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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. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  5. False peace will not ________________.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. I'll be taking the ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. pitch — a sports field
  3. snap — to click
  4. root — of a plant
  5. last — to go on
  6. last — finally
  7. stem — to come from
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. root — of a word
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pound — for dogs
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. last — final
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. tube — a container
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. tube — the underground
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tube — in a tire
  20. pound — a weight
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. pitch — completely
  23. pitch — a sales talk
  24. root — the cause

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