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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  9. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — an explosive
  4. pop — music
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. stem — to come from
  7. march — the month
  8. row — to paddle
  9. kick — with a leg
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. spring — a coil
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. mine — for digging
  14. pop — to visit
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. spring — of water
  17. spring — the season
  18. march — the month
  19. kick — in football
  20. branch — a division
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. march — music
  23. row — a line
  24. stem — of a plant

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