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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  3. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. The ________________ market has crashed.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. perch — the fish
  3. stock — goods
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. chair — a leader
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. sharp — clever
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. stock — shares
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. stock — a soup base
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. lash — an eyelash
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. mine — for digging
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. capital — money
  20. chair — to sit on
  21. capital — a city
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stem — to come from

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