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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. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  13. Don't do anything ________________.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. Where did you ________________ them?
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. mug — a face
  2. cell — a phone
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. cell — in biology
  5. capital — a city
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. capital — money
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bat — the animal
  12. bound — obliged
  13. rash — hasty
  14. bound — certain
  15. bound — tied together
  16. mug — to rob
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. march — the month
  19. march — music
  20. stem — to come from
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. mug — a cup
  23. march — the month
  24. rash — a series

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