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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  20. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. stock — goods
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. tear — from crying
  5. last — finally
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. stock — shares
  9. foot — a measure
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. cold — not warm
  12. object — an aim
  13. clip — for paper
  14. foot — part of the body
  15. cold — an illness
  16. clip — a video
  17. stem — to come from
  18. tear — from crying
  19. object — to protest
  20. object — a thing
  21. clip — to cut
  22. last — final
  23. tear — to rip
  24. stem — a stem cell

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