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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: stem · spring · wind · ground · club · kid · mark · date

  1. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  18. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. date — the fruit
  3. spring — the season
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. club — for golf
  6. spring — a coil
  7. spring — of water
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. ground — crushed
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. ground — the earth
  13. mark — a trace
  14. club — a group
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. ground — a position
  17. mark — a grade
  18. club — for dancing
  19. wind — moving air
  20. mark — to pay attention
  21. kid — to tease
  22. stem — to come from
  23. kid — child
  24. stem — a stem cell

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