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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 116 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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  17. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. bass — low music
  2. spring — of water
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. shower — a meteor shower
  5. mark — a grade
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. kid — to tease
  9. mark — a trace
  10. spring — a coil
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. bass — the instrument
  13. lean — thin
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. wind — moving air
  16. bass — the fish
  17. lean — to bend
  18. shower — rain
  19. shower — to wash
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. kid — child
  22. spring — the season
  23. stem — to come from
  24. wind — moving air

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