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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 116 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: cold · stem · object · pop · row · net · bank · snap

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  18. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  23. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pop — to visit
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. pop — music
  5. object — to protest
  6. object — a thing
  7. snap — to speak sharply
  8. row — a line
  9. snap — to click
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. net — in sport
  13. object — an aim
  14. pop — soda
  15. net — after costs
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. bank — of a river
  18. net — for catching
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. bank — for money
  21. stem — to come from
  22. bank — for money
  23. row — a quarrel
  24. row — to paddle

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