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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. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  9. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. The ________________ took off on time.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. kick — with a leg
  2. cold — an illness
  3. march — music
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. band — a ring
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. root — of a plant
  8. stock — goods
  9. stock — a soup base
  10. band — a music group
  11. kick — in football
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. stem — to come from
  16. stock — shares
  17. kick — a thrill
  18. cold — not warm
  19. march — the month
  20. root — of a word
  21. march — the month
  22. plane — a tool
  23. plane — an aircraft
  24. root — the cause

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