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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. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  2. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. Did you ________________ the meat?
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The players ran onto the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for dancing
  2. season — of the year
  3. pop — soda
  4. root — the cause
  5. cold — not warm
  6. club — for golf
  7. root — of a word
  8. stem — to come from
  9. root — of a plant
  10. club — a group
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. pop — music
  13. season — in sport
  14. fall — to drop
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. fall — to drop
  17. fall — the season
  18. season — to add flavour
  19. cold — an illness
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. pop — to visit
  22. pitch — completely
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pitch — a sports field

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