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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. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  19. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. can — a tin
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. can — a tin
  4. content — happy
  5. kid — child
  6. staff — employees
  7. mine — for digging
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. staff — employees
  12. stem — to come from
  13. scale — in music
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. content — the amount
  16. cell — in biology
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. scale — size or range
  19. staff — a stick
  20. cell — a phone
  21. can — to be able to
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. kid — to tease

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