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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  5. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. clip — for paper
  4. root — of a word
  5. stock — goods
  6. stock — shares
  7. chest — of your body
  8. chest — a box
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. clip — to cut
  11. capital — money
  12. capital — a city
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. land — a country
  15. root — the cause
  16. chest — of your body
  17. clip — a video
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. land — ground
  21. land — to come down
  22. root — of a plant
  23. prune — to trim
  24. capital — a big letter

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