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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 116 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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. lie — to recline
  3. land — to come down
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. capital — a city
  6. spring — a coil
  7. capital — money
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. land — a country
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. stem — to come from
  13. bat — the animal
  14. cold — an illness
  15. fine — a penalty
  16. cold — not warm
  17. land — ground
  18. spring — of water
  19. fine — high quality
  20. spring — the season
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. fine — all right
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. lie — an untruth

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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