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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 ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. rest — what's left
  2. field — a subject
  3. mine — for digging
  4. rest — a break
  5. stem — to come from
  6. root — the cause
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. kid — child
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. field — for sport
  14. cold — an illness
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. field — farmland
  18. root — of a plant
  19. rest — what's left
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. kid — to tease
  22. cold — not warm
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. root — of a word

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