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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 120 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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  13. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  14. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  22. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. foot — part of the body
  3. field — for sport
  4. craft — a skill
  5. field — farmland
  6. foot — the bottom
  7. clip — for paper
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. trunk — of an elephant
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. stem — to come from
  12. foot — a measure
  13. bear — the animal
  14. bear — to put up with
  15. clip — to cut
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. craft — a handicraft
  18. bear — the animal
  19. clip — a video
  20. craft — boats
  21. trunk — of a car
  22. shower — rain
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. field — a subject

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