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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Have you found your soul ________________?
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  22. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. chest — of your body
  4. cell — in biology
  5. land — ground
  6. kick — in football
  7. mate — to breed
  8. cell — a phone
  9. land — a country
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. kick — a thrill
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. hand — help
  14. bat — the animal
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. mate — a partner
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. mate — a friend
  19. chest — a box
  20. hand — in cards
  21. chest — of your body
  22. kick — with a leg
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. land — to come down

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