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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 116 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. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  21. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. land — a country
  6. land — to come down
  7. saw — the tool
  8. root — of a plant
  9. kid — to tease
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. cold — not warm
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. stem — to come from
  15. kid — child
  16. cold — an illness
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. saw — the tool
  19. root — of a word
  20. bass — low music
  21. land — ground
  22. bass — the fish
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. root — the cause

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