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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  3. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  15. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  16. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  17. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. capital — a big letter
  4. hand — help
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. stock — goods
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stock — shares
  10. hand — in cards
  11. perch — the fish
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. pound — to hit hard
  15. capital — a city
  16. stem — to come from
  17. pound — a weight
  18. row — to paddle
  19. row — a line
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. capital — money
  23. perch — for a bird
  24. pound — for dogs

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