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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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. Did you ________________ the button?
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  16. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  17. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. fine — all right
  3. press — to push
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. clip — for paper
  6. press — a publisher
  7. stem — to come from
  8. march — music
  9. clip — a video
  10. root — of a plant
  11. shower — rain
  12. march — the month
  13. press — newspapers
  14. clip — to cut
  15. fork — to eat with
  16. root — of a word
  17. fine — a penalty
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. shower — to wash
  20. fine — high quality
  21. march — the month
  22. fork — in a road
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. root — the cause

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