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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. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  4. Have you found your soul ________________?
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. I'll be taking the ________________.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  23. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  24. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. stem — to come from
  3. stem — a stem cell
  4. mate — a partner
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. cold — an illness
  7. pass — to spend time
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. drill — army training
  10. shower — to wash
  11. mate — a friend
  12. drill — the tool
  13. tube — the underground
  14. chest — a box
  15. tube — in a tire
  16. chest — of your body
  17. mate — to breed
  18. chest — of your body
  19. cold — not warm
  20. shower — rain
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. drill — a practice
  23. pass — a permit
  24. tube — a container

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