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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. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  2. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  15. She's very handy with a ________________.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He works in a ________________ mill.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. I've got to change the light ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. wax — for sculpting
  2. stock — a soup base
  3. spring — of water
  4. bat — the animal
  5. chest — of your body
  6. stock — goods
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. wax — to grow
  10. spring — the season
  11. stem — to come from
  12. chest — of your body
  13. spring — a coil
  14. wax — in the ear
  15. saw — the tool
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. chest — a box
  20. saw — the tool
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. bulb — for light
  23. bulb — for light
  24. stock — shares

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