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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  4. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  8. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  21. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  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. coach — pulled by horses
  2. stem — to come from
  3. mate — to breed
  4. foot — the bottom
  5. tube — the underground
  6. perch — the fish
  7. perch — for a bird
  8. foot — part of the body
  9. wound — an injury
  10. shower — rain
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. mate — a partner
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. foot — a measure
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. mate — a friend
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. wound — an injury
  20. tube — a container
  21. shower — to wash
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  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