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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 ball is in your ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  6. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  7. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  22. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. court — for sport
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. spring — of water
  5. court — of law
  6. stem — to come from
  7. face — part of the head
  8. spring — the season
  9. wound — an injury
  10. lash — to lash out
  11. kid — child
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. net — after costs
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. net — in sport
  16. face — to confront
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. wound — an injury
  19. spring — a coil
  20. kid — to tease
  21. lash — an eyelash
  22. net — for catching
  23. court — of a king
  24. face — to point toward

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