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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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  3. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. When are we going to ________________?
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. snap — to snap out of it
  3. bark — a dog's sound
  4. club — a group
  5. stem — to come from
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. snap — to click
  8. land — to come down
  9. land — ground
  10. chest — of your body
  11. club — for dancing
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. degree — from a university
  15. land — a country
  16. wake — a trail
  17. degree — temperature
  18. bark — to shout
  19. stem — of a plant
  20. degree — an amount
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. club — for golf
  24. bark — of a tree

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