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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 124 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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  16. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. bass — the fish
  3. stem — to come from
  4. deal — an agreement
  5. degree — an amount
  6. bark — to shout
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. bass — low music
  9. mine — for digging
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. deal — a big deal
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. lean — thin
  15. bark — of a tree
  16. lean — to rest against
  17. plane — a tool
  18. lean — to bend
  19. degree — from a university
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. mine — an explosive
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. deal — to handle
  24. degree — temperature

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