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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 120 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. There's no middle ________________.
  2. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. Have you met the new head ________________?
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. ground — a position
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. root — of a word
  4. spring — the season
  5. root — of a plant
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. stem — to come from
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. coach — pulled by horses
  11. kid — to tease
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. ground — crushed
  14. coach — a trainer
  15. spring — a coil
  16. cell — in biology
  17. ground — the earth
  18. capital — a city
  19. spring — of water
  20. capital — money
  21. root — the cause
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. kid — child
  24. cell — a phone

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