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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. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  19. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  20. The light ________________ burned out.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  23. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. stem — to come from
  3. content — the amount
  4. kid — to tease
  5. lie — an untruth
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. cell — a phone
  9. prune — to trim
  10. race — the arms race
  11. prune — to trim
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. kid — child
  15. race — humankind
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. bulb — of a plant
  19. lie — an untruth
  20. bulb — for light
  21. bulb — for light
  22. lie — to recline
  23. race — a contest
  24. cell — in biology

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