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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. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  6. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. When will it ________________ you to start?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. There's no middle ________________.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. stem — to come from
  5. suit — in cards
  6. ground — crushed
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. suit — to fit
  10. spring — a coil
  11. spring — the season
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. kid — to tease
  16. suit — clothes
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. ground — the earth
  19. ground — a position
  20. kid — child
  21. spring — of water
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. hand — help
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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