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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. I'll be taking the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. This piece is in a major ________________.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. stem — to come from
  3. tube — a container
  4. field — for sport
  5. field — a subject
  6. rush — to hurry
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. wind — moving air
  11. rush — hurry
  12. field — farmland
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. tube — in a tire
  15. drill — army training
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bat — the animal
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. key — the most important part
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. tube — the underground
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. key — in music
  24. wind — to turn a key

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