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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. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  8. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  9. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  10. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. She got the top ________________ in the exam.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. stem — to come from
  3. land — ground
  4. current — electric
  5. wound — an injury
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. patient — calm and waiting
  8. mark — to pay attention
  9. patient — a sick person
  10. current — of water
  11. rule — a law
  12. current — happening now
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. land — a country
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. land — to come down
  18. wound — an injury
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. rule — government
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. mark — a grade

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