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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. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. When was this ________________ built?
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  6. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. stem — to come from
  3. temple — a place of worship
  4. prune — to trim
  5. trunk — of a tree
  6. capital — money
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. prune — to trim
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. snap — to click
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. mine — for digging
  18. branch — a division
  19. branch — of a tree
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. capital — a city
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. trunk — of a car
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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