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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 ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  9. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cold — an illness
  4. band — a ring
  5. net — after costs
  6. craft — boats
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. craft — a skill
  9. march — the month
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. band — a music group
  12. march — the month
  13. season — in sport
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. face — part of the head
  17. face — to confront
  18. craft — a handicraft
  19. net — for catching
  20. cold — not warm
  21. face — to point toward
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. season — of the year
  24. march — music

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