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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 116 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 hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. Did you ________________ the button?
  5. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. stem — to come from
  3. present — a gift
  4. press — to push
  5. lean — thin
  6. land — ground
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. spring — the season
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. press — a publisher
  11. bat — the animal
  12. ruler — a monarch
  13. present — there
  14. spring — a coil
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. lean — to bend
  17. press — newspapers
  18. land — a country
  19. land — to come down
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. ruler — for measuring
  22. present — the time now
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. bat — in an idiom

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