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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. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. The ________________ took off on time.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — for digging
  2. stem — to come from
  3. spring — of water
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. spring — a coil
  6. capital — money
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. wake — a trail
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. capital — a city
  12. row — to paddle
  13. kid — child
  14. plane — an aircraft
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. spring — the season
  19. kid — to tease
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. plane — a tool
  22. row — a line
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. wake — before a funeral

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