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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: stem · bat · chair · tear · court · fall

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. tear — from crying
  3. tear — from crying
  4. fall — the season
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. fall — to drop
  10. court — for sport
  11. bat — the animal
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. fall — to drop
  14. tear — to rip
  15. court — of a king
  16. court — of law
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. chair — a leader

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