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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. He was locked up in a ________________.
  10. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. There's no middle ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. We're almost out of ________________.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. pit — a hole
  3. stem — to come from
  4. face — part of the head
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. ground — crushed
  8. cell — a phone
  9. cell — in a prison
  10. face — to confront
  11. pit — in a race
  12. ground — a position
  13. capital — money
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. pop — to visit
  16. cell — in biology
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. pop — soda
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. pop — music
  21. capital — a city
  22. face — to point toward
  23. ground — the earth
  24. game — wild animals

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