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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 116 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. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  17. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  18. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  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. stem — to come from
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. chair — a leader
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cabinet — ministers
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. patient — calm and waiting
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. tear — to rip
  13. mine — for digging
  14. key — for a lock
  15. tear — from crying
  16. cabinet — a cupboard
  17. stem — of a plant
  18. chair — to sit on
  19. tear — from crying
  20. key — in music
  21. key — the most important part
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. patient — a sick person
  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