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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  3. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  10. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  11. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. can — to be able to
  3. chip — to eat
  4. cold — not warm
  5. capital — money
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wake — a trail
  8. degree — temperature
  9. field — for sport
  10. can — a tin
  11. chip — in a computer
  12. degree — an amount
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. field — a subject
  16. capital — a city
  17. degree — from a university
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. field — farmland
  21. stem — to come from
  22. chip — for betting
  23. can — a tin
  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