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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  4. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  5. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  8. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stem — to come from
  3. firm — steady
  4. chip — to eat
  5. rule — a law
  6. land — to come down
  7. stem — a stem cell
  8. firm — decided
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. cold — an illness
  12. squash — the sport
  13. firm — a company
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. land — a country
  17. squash — to crush
  18. chip — for betting
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. rule — government
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. mine — for digging
  23. land — ground
  24. stem — of a plant

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