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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. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  6. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  14. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. cap — a hat
  4. field — farmland
  5. spring — the season
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. spring — of water
  8. ruler — for measuring
  9. key — for a lock
  10. ruler — for measuring
  11. spring — a coil
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cap — a lid
  14. key — the most important part
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. stem — to come from
  18. cap — of ice
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. key — in music
  22. field — for sport
  23. cold — not warm
  24. stem — a stem cell

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