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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 potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. You don't need to ________________ round.
  5. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. chip — to eat
  2. cell — in biology
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. pop — to visit
  5. chip — in a computer
  6. tear — from crying
  7. tear — to rip
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stem — to come from
  11. pop — soda
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. cell — a phone
  15. tear — from crying
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. cold — not warm
  19. pop — music
  20. prune — to trim
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. chip — for betting
  23. cold — an illness
  24. cold — the Cold War

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