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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  19. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. cell — in biology
  3. current — happening now
  4. stem — to come from
  5. swing — in golf
  6. swing — music
  7. spring — the season
  8. row — a line
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. kid — to tease
  11. cell — a phone
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. row — to paddle
  14. current — of water
  15. spring — of water
  16. kid — child
  17. spring — a coil
  18. dip — to sink
  19. dip — to dunk
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. swing — to play on
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. current — electric

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