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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. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  21. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  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. stem — to come from
  2. fall — to drop
  3. fall — the season
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. chest — a box
  6. wax — to grow
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. chest — of your body
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. chest — of your body
  11. wax — in the ear
  12. land — to come down
  13. fall — to drop
  14. march — music
  15. land — a country
  16. march — the month
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. march — the month
  19. fork — in a road
  20. land — ground
  21. wax — for sculpting
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. fork — to eat with
  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