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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: prune · kick · stem · face · field · march · cold · mate

  1. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  21. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. march — the month
  2. mate — a partner
  3. mate — a friend
  4. stem — to come from
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. field — farmland
  8. kick — in football
  9. march — the month
  10. cold — not warm
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. field — for sport
  13. mate — to breed
  14. field — a subject
  15. kick — with a leg
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. cold — an illness
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. face — to point toward
  20. kick — a thrill
  21. face — part of the head
  22. march — music
  23. face — to confront
  24. prune — to trim

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