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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 · mine · hand · row · rule · tear · season · stem

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Did you ________________ the meat?
  17. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. season — of the year
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. hand — in cards
  4. mine — for digging
  5. tear — to rip
  6. rule — a law
  7. season — in sport
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. cold — an illness
  11. row — a line
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — from crying
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. season — to add flavour
  17. hand — part of the body
  18. row — to paddle
  19. hand — help
  20. tear — from crying
  21. rule — government
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. stem — to come from
  24. row — a quarrel

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