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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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  3. It's one o'clock ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  17. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. bay — a horse colour
  3. sharp — exactly
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. lean — thin
  8. pound — a weight
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. field — farmland
  13. lean — to bend
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. sharp — with an edge
  17. sharp — clever
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. cold — an illness
  20. cell — in biology
  21. cell — a phone
  22. field — a subject
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. field — for sport

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