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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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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: charge · stem · cold · mine · ground · spring · net · race

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The tickets are free of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. spring — of water
  3. cold — an illness
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. charge — electricity
  6. net — for catching
  7. ground — crushed
  8. race — humankind
  9. cold — not warm
  10. ground — a position
  11. spring — the season
  12. charge — in control
  13. stem — to come from
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. ground — the earth
  16. net — after costs
  17. spring — a coil
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. race — the arms race
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. race — a contest
  22. net — in sport
  23. mine — for digging
  24. charge — a price

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