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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. stem — to come from
  3. last — final
  4. club — for golf
  5. field — a subject
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. club — a group
  8. field — farmland
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. root — the cause
  11. land — a country
  12. root — of a plant
  13. race — humankind
  14. land — to come down
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — finally
  17. club — for dancing
  18. root — of a word
  19. field — for sport
  20. race — a contest
  21. saw — the tool
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  23. saw — the tool
  24. race — the arms race

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