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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Don't do anything ________________.
  22. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. content — the amount
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. capital — a city
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. last — final
  9. file — a line of people
  10. last — to go on
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. last — finally
  13. fall — to drop
  14. rash — a series
  15. content — happy
  16. fall — the season
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. fall — to drop
  19. capital — money
  20. file — a tool
  21. rash — hasty
  22. fan — to cool the air
  23. file — a document
  24. content — videos and posts

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