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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  19. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. field — for sport
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. bear — the animal
  6. stock — shares
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — temperature
  9. bear — the animal
  10. stock — goods
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. hide — animal skin
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. stem — to come from
  15. kid — child
  16. capital — money
  17. field — a subject
  18. bear — to put up with
  19. capital — a city
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. degree — an amount
  22. field — farmland
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. kid — to tease

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