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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'll be taking the ________________.
  2. When are we going to ________________?
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Have you met the new head ________________?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tube — the underground
  2. land — to come down
  3. stem — to come from
  4. board — a flat piece
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. board — to get on
  7. land — ground
  8. cold — not warm
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. mark — a trace
  13. mark — a grade
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. cold — an illness
  16. land — a country
  17. board — a committee
  18. tube — a container
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. coach — pulled by horses
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — child

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