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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: chest · stem · pitcher · capital · rock · mine · hide · sharp

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  3. He is an ace ________________.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  13. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  14. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  15. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  21. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  22. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. chest — of your body
  3. pitcher — in baseball
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. capital — money
  8. sharp — clever
  9. capital — a city
  10. rock — to move gently
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. mine — for digging
  13. hide — to keep secret
  14. rock — music
  15. hide — animal skin
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. chest — of your body
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. rock — a stone
  22. sharp — with an edge
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. chest — a box

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