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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. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  8. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  9. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  12. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  13. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  22. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. cabinet — ministers
  3. stem — to come from
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. snap — to snap out of it
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stock — goods
  8. present — there
  9. foot — a measure
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. snap — to speak sharply
  12. key — for a lock
  13. key — the most important part
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. key — in music
  16. snap — to click
  17. cabinet — a cupboard
  18. cold — not warm
  19. foot — part of the body
  20. present — the time now
  21. stem — of a plant
  22. foot — the bottom
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. stock — shares

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