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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: ground · pit · branch · rush · cold · row · stem · field

  1. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  17. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  18. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  21. That must've been a ________________.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. field — for sport
  2. cold — an illness
  3. stem — to come from
  4. row — a line
  5. rush — to hurry
  6. rush — hurry
  7. pit — a fruit stone
  8. ground — the earth
  9. branch — a division
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. field — a subject
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. field — farmland
  14. pit — a hole
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. ground — crushed
  17. branch — of a tree
  18. stem — of a plant
  19. cold — not warm
  20. row — to paddle
  21. rush — a thrill
  22. pit — in a race
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. ground — a position

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