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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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. mine — belonging to me
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. kick — in football
  8. shower — to wash
  9. net — after costs
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. stem — to come from
  12. net — in sport
  13. mine — for digging
  14. shower — rain
  15. bark — to shout
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. degree — from a university
  18. degree — an amount
  19. degree — temperature
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. net — for catching
  22. wind — moving air
  23. wind — moving air
  24. stem — a stem cell

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