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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: row · wax · race · cold · cell · stem

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  10. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. wax — for sculpting
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cell — in biology
  6. cold — an illness
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — the arms race
  9. cell — a phone
  10. wax — in the ear
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. wax — to grow
  13. stem — to come from
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. row — a line
  17. row — to paddle
  18. cold — not warm

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