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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 124 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. last — final
  3. mine — for digging
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. last — finally
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. stem — to come from
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. net — in sport
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. spell — a short time
  17. cold — an illness
  18. fork — in a road
  19. net — for catching
  20. leaves — to go away
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. last — to go on
  23. spell — magic
  24. net — after costs

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