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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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Word bank
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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: hand · date · mate · deal · fall · land · capital · stem

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Have you settled on a ________________?
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  23. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  24. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mate — a partner
  3. capital — a city
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. stem — to come from
  6. hand — help
  7. deal — an agreement
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mate — a friend
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. capital — money
  12. fall — to drop
  13. date — the fruit
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. fall — the season
  16. date — on the calendar
  17. land — to come down
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. hand — in cards
  20. mate — to breed
  21. land — a country
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. deal — to handle
  24. deal — a big deal

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