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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: cold · stick · last · wax · toast · stem · spring · ground

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. What's the best way to remove ear ________________?
  7. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  8. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  11. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  12. The moon will ________________ and wane.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. There's no middle ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The museum has ________________ figures of famous people.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. stick — a piece of wood
  3. ground — crushed
  4. spring — a coil
  5. stem — to come from
  6. wax — in the ear
  7. stick — to attach or keep to
  8. toast — a drink to someone
  9. ground — the earth
  10. stick — a piece of wood
  11. toast — the most admired
  12. wax — to grow
  13. cold — not warm
  14. spring — of water
  15. toast — bread
  16. ground — a position
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. last — final
  20. last — finally
  21. spring — the season
  22. wax — for sculpting
  23. last — to go on
  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