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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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  5. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  6. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. That was ________________ to happen.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. Recycle the empty soda ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bound — obliged
  3. degree — an amount
  4. can — a tin
  5. root — of a word
  6. can — to be able to
  7. root — of a plant
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. cold — an illness
  10. cold — not warm
  11. spell — magic
  12. bound — tied together
  13. degree — from a university
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. spell — a short time
  17. root — the cause
  18. degree — temperature
  19. bound — certain
  20. stem — to come from
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. can — a tin

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