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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: rule · track · object · cold · court · snap · chest · stem

  1. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  2. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to click
  2. object — to protest
  3. track — a path
  4. cold — not warm
  5. track — to keep track
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. rule — government
  8. chest — a box
  9. chest — of your body
  10. court — for sport
  11. track — a song
  12. chest — of your body
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. court — of a king
  15. object — a thing
  16. object — an aim
  17. stem — to come from
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. court — of law
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. cold — an illness

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