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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. stem — to come from
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. spring — of water
  9. toast — bread
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. pop — soda
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pop — to visit
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. pop — music
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. pitch — completely
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. toast — a drink to someone
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bear — the animal

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