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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: scale · row · bear · cold · cell · stem

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. stem — to come from
  3. cold — not warm
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. cold — an illness
  6. bear — the animal
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. scale — size or range
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. row — to paddle
  12. stem — of a plant
  13. cell — a phone
  14. scale — in music
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. cell — in biology
  18. bear — the animal

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