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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  16. The ball is in your ________________.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  22. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  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. bat — in an idiom
  2. ground — a position
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. spring — of water
  5. spring — the season
  6. court — of law
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. cell — a phone
  9. race — humankind
  10. saw — the tool
  11. ground — crushed
  12. race — a contest
  13. ground — the earth
  14. spring — a coil
  15. cell — in biology
  16. court — for sport
  17. court — of a king
  18. race — the arms race
  19. saw — the tool
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. bat — the animal
  22. saw — past of 'see'
  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