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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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  6. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  22. The light ________________ burned out.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. cap — a lid
  4. bat — the animal
  5. leaves — of a tree
  6. shower — rain
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. shower — to wash
  10. bulb — for light
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. stem — a stem cell
  13. kid — child
  14. kid — to tease
  15. bulb — of a plant
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. cap — of ice
  20. cap — a hat
  21. leaves — to go away
  22. bulb — for light
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. bat — in an idiom

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