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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. There's no middle ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Can you turn the ________________ on?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. prune — to trim
  3. dip — to sink
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. stem — to come from
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. stock — shares
  8. dip — a sauce
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. fan — a supporter
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. ground — the earth
  15. stock — goods
  16. cold — not warm
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. ground — crushed
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. ground — a position
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. fan — to cool the air

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