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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. spring — of water
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. cell — a phone
  8. fan — a supporter
  9. stem — to come from
  10. wound — an injury
  11. plane — a tool
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. cold — an illness
  19. spring — the season
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. wound — an injury
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. mine — an explosive
  24. spring — a coil

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