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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: shower · lean · rest · fall · stem · cold · wound · track

  1. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  22. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — of a plant
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. fall — to drop
  5. shower — rain
  6. lean — to bend
  7. track — a path
  8. track — to keep track
  9. wound — an injury
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. track — a song
  12. wound — an injury
  13. stem — to come from
  14. lean — thin
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. fall — the season
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. fall — to drop
  19. rest — what's left
  20. shower — to wash
  21. wound — past of 'wind'
  22. rest — what's left
  23. rest — a break
  24. lean — to rest against

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