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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  9. Don't do anything ________________.
  10. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  11. The ________________ went through the wall.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. shower — to wash
  3. shower — rain
  4. nail — on a finger
  5. field — a subject
  6. field — farmland
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. nail — for a hammer
  9. rash — hasty
  10. bank — for money
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. key — in music
  13. bank — of a river
  14. key — the most important part
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. cold — an illness
  17. bank — for money
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. cold — not warm
  20. key — for a lock
  21. field — for sport
  22. rash — a series
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. shower — a meteor shower

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com