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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 116 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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  16. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  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. stem — to come from
  2. current — of water
  3. plane — a tool
  4. net — after costs
  5. key — the most important part
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. capital — money
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. key — in music
  13. plane — in geometry
  14. capital — a city
  15. key — for a lock
  16. current — electric
  17. cold — not warm
  18. net — in sport
  19. net — for catching
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. current — happening now
  23. cold — an illness
  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