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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. That was a fun ________________.
  10. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  11. My father caught me by the ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. arm — a part of something
  8. cold — an illness
  9. game — a match
  10. game — wild animals
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. cell — a phone
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. pit — a hole
  17. cell — in biology
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pitch — completely
  20. row — to paddle
  21. stem — to come from
  22. pit — in a race
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. row — a line

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