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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 116 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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  4. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  10. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  16. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  17. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  18. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. stem — to come from
  3. capital — money
  4. capital — a big letter
  5. cold — an illness
  6. degree — temperature
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. kick — in football
  9. degree — from a university
  10. leaves — lets stay
  11. cold — not warm
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. kick — a thrill
  16. kick — with a leg
  17. shower — rain
  18. capital — a city
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. shower — to wash
  21. file — a document
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a tool
  24. degree — an amount

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