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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 120 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. You don't need to ________________ round.
  4. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  18. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. kid — to tease
  3. pop — to visit
  4. last — finally
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — child
  7. track — a path
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. land — a country
  10. land — to come down
  11. last — to go on
  12. march — music
  13. march — the month
  14. mark — a trace
  15. pop — soda
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. track — to keep track
  18. mark — to pay attention
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. last — final
  21. mark — a grade
  22. pop — music
  23. land — ground
  24. track — a song

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