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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  3. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  4. That was ________________ to happen.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  10. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  11. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  12. We're on a ________________ here.
  13. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. stem — a stem cell
  3. shower — a meteor shower
  4. bound — certain
  5. object — to protest
  6. court — for sport
  7. bound — tied together
  8. stem — to come from
  9. court — of law
  10. object — a thing
  11. object — an aim
  12. roll — on a roll
  13. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  14. roll — a list
  15. roll — a cake
  16. kid — to tease
  17. bound — obliged
  18. lean — to bend
  19. shower — to wash
  20. court — of a king
  21. lean — to rest against
  22. shower — rain
  23. lean — thin
  24. stem — of a plant

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