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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 116 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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  14. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  15. Did you ________________ the meat?
  16. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. craft — boats
  2. stem — to come from
  3. wind — moving air
  4. mark — a trace
  5. hand — in cards
  6. hand — help
  7. field — farmland
  8. field — for sport
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. craft — a skill
  12. field — a subject
  13. craft — a handicraft
  14. season — in sport
  15. season — to add flavour
  16. mark — a grade
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. prune — to trim
  21. season — of the year
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. wind — moving air
  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