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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. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. prune — to trim
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. bass — low music
  6. stem — to come from
  7. prune — to trim
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — humankind
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. sharp — clever
  13. root — of a word
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. band — a music group
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. root — the cause
  19. band — a ring
  20. sharp — with an edge
  21. root — of a plant
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. bass — the fish
  24. straw — a straw man

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