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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 124 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 big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. My father caught me by the ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. arm — a part of something
  5. lean — to bend
  6. arm — part of the body
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. wax — in the ear
  9. cell — a phone
  10. file — a document
  11. wax — to grow
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. cell — in biology
  14. cold — an illness
  15. lean — thin
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. file — a line of people
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. cold — not warm
  22. file — a tool
  23. stem — to come from
  24. wax — for sculpting

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