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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 120 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. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. That was a fun ________________.
  8. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  9. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  10. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — a box
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. mug — a cup
  4. mug — to rob
  5. chest — of your body
  6. chest — of your body
  7. game — a match
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. mug — a face
  10. racket — a loud noise
  11. ground — the earth
  12. game — wild animals
  13. cold — an illness
  14. bat — the animal
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. cold — not warm
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. ground — crushed
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. ground — a position
  24. stem — to come from

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