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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: spring · charge · wake · hand · kid · stem · track · mine

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  4. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. The tickets are free of ________________.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. track — a path
  3. wake — to stop sleeping
  4. hand — part of the body
  5. track — a song
  6. charge — in control
  7. spring — of water
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. spring — a coil
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — a trail
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. kid — child
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. charge — a price
  16. track — to keep track
  17. hand — help
  18. charge — electricity
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. hand — in cards
  21. stem — to come from
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. spring — the season
  24. mine — for digging

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