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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. You don't need to ________________ round.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. cold — not warm
  3. stem — to come from
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. deal — to handle
  7. root — of a word
  8. drill — a practice
  9. plane — a tool
  10. plane — in geometry
  11. cold — an illness
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. pop — music
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. drill — the tool
  16. drill — army training
  17. root — of a plant
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. shower — to wash
  21. root — the cause
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. shower — rain
  24. pop — to visit

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