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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: hide · pop · chest · cold · swing · stem · band · last

  1. David sat on the ________________.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  6. You don't need to ________________ round.
  7. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  23. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. last — final
  4. cold — an illness
  5. swing — in golf
  6. pop — to visit
  7. hide — to keep secret
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. stem — to come from
  10. cold — not warm
  11. last — to go on
  12. chest — of your body
  13. band — a ring
  14. pop — soda
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. chest — a box
  17. last — finally
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. band — a music group
  20. hide — animal skin
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. chest — of your body
  23. pop — music
  24. swing — music

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