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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 ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  14. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. last — to go on
  4. bat — the animal
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. net — after costs
  7. net — in sport
  8. stem — to come from
  9. field — a subject
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. last — final
  12. prune — to trim
  13. chip — for betting
  14. row — a quarrel
  15. prune — to trim
  16. field — farmland
  17. row — to paddle
  18. net — for catching
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. chip — to eat
  22. last — finally
  23. field — for sport
  24. row — a line

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