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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. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  5. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  6. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  20. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. stem — to come from
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. cue — a signal
  5. cue — a hint
  6. field — for sport
  7. cold — an illness
  8. race — a contest
  9. trunk — of a car
  10. field — a subject
  11. foot — part of the body
  12. field — farmland
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. race — humankind
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. cue — for pool
  18. race — the arms race
  19. trunk — of an elephant
  20. racket — a loud noise
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. cold — not warm
  24. foot — a measure

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