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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. stem — to come from
  5. spring — of water
  6. ground — the earth
  7. ground — crushed
  8. capital — a city
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. kid — to tease
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. fan — to cool the air
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. drill — army training
  15. kid — child
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. drill — a practice
  18. spring — the season
  19. ground — a position
  20. spring — a coil
  21. drill — the tool
  22. capital — money
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. racket — a loud noise

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