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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. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  10. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. dip — a sauce
  3. stem — to come from
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. capital — money
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. dip — to sink
  10. trunk — of a car
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. spring — a coil
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. capital — a city
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. stock — shares
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. spring — of water
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. trunk — of a tree
  21. stock — goods
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. snap — to click

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