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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. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  24. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — a piece of wood
  2. stem — to come from
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. chair — to sit on
  5. game — wild animals
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fan — to cool the air
  10. branch — a division
  11. branch — of a tree
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. wound — an injury
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. game — a match
  19. wound — an injury
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. fan — a supporter
  22. cold — not warm
  23. branch — of a bank
  24. stick — to attach or keep to

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