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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: race · march · fall · rock · stem · kid

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  10. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  14. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. kid — to tease
  3. fall — to drop
  4. march — music
  5. rock — a stone
  6. fall — to drop
  7. race — humankind
  8. race — a contest
  9. race — the arms race
  10. stem — a stem cell
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. march — the month
  13. rock — music
  14. rock — to move gently
  15. fall — the season
  16. kid — child
  17. march — the month
  18. stem — of a plant

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