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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. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  13. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. toast — bread
  2. stem — to come from
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. chest — of your body
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. race — humankind
  7. bass — low music
  8. chest — of your body
  9. mark — a trace
  10. toast — a drink to someone
  11. spring — of water
  12. spring — the season
  13. bass — the fish
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. race — the arms race
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. game — a match
  18. chest — a box
  19. race — a contest
  20. game — wild animals
  21. game — a kind of play
  22. mark — a grade
  23. toast — the most admired
  24. spring — a coil

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