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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. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  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. mine — an explosive
  2. trunk — of an elephant
  3. wound — an injury
  4. spring — a coil
  5. land — a country
  6. wound — an injury
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. stem — to come from
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. land — ground
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. tear — from crying
  14. land — to come down
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. tear — from crying
  17. saw — the tool
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. saw — the tool
  20. tear — to rip
  21. spring — the season
  22. mine — for digging
  23. spring — of water
  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