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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 120 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: cap · stem · wind · cold · scale · content · last · court

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  3. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  6. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. court — of law
  3. scale — in music
  4. court — of a king
  5. cap — of ice
  6. stem — of a plant
  7. last — final
  8. cold — not warm
  9. scale — size or range
  10. last — to go on
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. content — happy
  15. wind — moving air
  16. content — the amount
  17. cap — a lid
  18. cold — an illness
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. wind — moving air
  21. court — for sport
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. cap — a hat
  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