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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. Did you ________________ the meat?
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. David sat on the ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  24. We're on a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. season — to add flavour
  2. stem — to come from
  3. roll — a list
  4. game — a match
  5. chest — of your body
  6. net — in sport
  7. swing — in golf
  8. net — after costs
  9. chip — in a computer
  10. season — in sport
  11. season — of the year
  12. roll — a cake
  13. chest — of your body
  14. chip — for betting
  15. chest — a box
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. net — for catching
  18. swing — to play on
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. chip — to eat
  21. game — wild animals
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. swing — music
  24. roll — on a roll

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