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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: stem · spring · racket · cold · fork · tear · pop · net

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  17. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. net — for catching
  6. tear — to rip
  7. spring — the season
  8. cold — an illness
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. pop — music
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. fork — in a road
  14. racket — a loud noise
  15. net — after costs
  16. stem — a stem cell
  17. net — in sport
  18. spring — a coil
  19. pop — to visit
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. pop — soda
  23. spring — of water
  24. stem — to come from

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