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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. We took cover from the thunder ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. track — a path
  4. stem — to come from
  5. land — to come down
  6. stock — shares
  7. cold — not warm
  8. stock — goods
  9. face — to point toward
  10. face — part of the head
  11. land — ground
  12. cold — an illness
  13. pass — a permit
  14. face — to confront
  15. stock — a soup base
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. pass — to succeed
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. track — a song
  20. land — a country
  21. track — to keep track
  22. shower — to wash
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. shower — rain

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