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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. The water is too ________________.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. When was this ________________ built?
  21. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  22. Did you ________________ the meat?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. race — humankind
  3. season — in sport
  4. race — the arms race
  5. spring — a coil
  6. tear — from crying
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. row — a line
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. stem — to come from
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. spring — of water
  14. row — to paddle
  15. temple — a place of worship
  16. tear — to rip
  17. season — of the year
  18. race — a contest
  19. spring — the season
  20. temple — a place of worship
  21. temple — side of the head
  22. season — to add flavour
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tear — from crying

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