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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 124 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 water is too ________________.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. She's very handy with a ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  13. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  16. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. season — of the year
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. stem — to come from
  5. wax — for sculpting
  6. ground — a position
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. saw — the tool
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. season — in sport
  12. racket — for tennis
  13. racket — for tennis
  14. bass — the fish
  15. wax — to grow
  16. racket — a loud noise
  17. ground — the earth
  18. ground — crushed
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. bass — low music
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. saw — the tool

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