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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: staff · land · race · stem · spring · wax · racket · cold

  1. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  11. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  20. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. racket — for tennis
  3. land — ground
  4. spring — a coil
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. staff — employees
  9. race — a contest
  10. racket — for tennis
  11. wax — to grow
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. cold — not warm
  15. race — the arms race
  16. spring — of water
  17. land — to come down
  18. spring — the season
  19. wax — for sculpting
  20. wax — in the ear
  21. land — a country
  22. staff — a stick
  23. stem — to come from
  24. race — humankind

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