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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  15. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  16. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. stem — to come from
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. mine — for digging
  5. march — music
  6. kid — to tease
  7. kid — child
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wound — an injury
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. march — the month
  12. rule — government
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. mine — an explosive
  15. rule — a law
  16. present — the time now
  17. present — there
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. wound — past of 'wind'
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. march — the month

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