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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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. It's one o'clock ________________.
  22. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  23. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. lie — to recline
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. capital — money
  5. stem — of a plant
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. prune — to trim
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. cold — not warm
  11. capital — a city
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. lie — an untruth
  14. sharp — clever
  15. cold — an illness
  16. squash — the sport
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. squash — to crush
  20. prune — to trim
  21. sharp — exactly
  22. squash — the vegetable
  23. jam — a tight spot
  24. jam — in traffic

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