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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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. last — to go on
  3. sharp — clever
  4. chest — of your body
  5. cold — an illness
  6. race — a contest
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. last — finally
  9. ground — crushed
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. chest — a box
  12. deal — to handle
  13. ground — a position
  14. stem — to come from
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. last — final
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. ground — the earth
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. chest — of your body
  21. race — the arms race
  22. cold — not warm
  23. race — humankind
  24. cold — the Cold War

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