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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. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. branch — of a tree
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. pitch — completely
  5. cold — not warm
  6. stem — to come from
  7. track — a path
  8. hand — help
  9. cold — an illness
  10. branch — a division
  11. hand — in cards
  12. court — for sport
  13. track — a song
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. pitch — a sports field
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. court — of a king
  19. track — to keep track
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. court — of law
  22. plane — a tool
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. stem — a stem cell

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