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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: court · root · land · club · rush · stem · face · clip

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. The ball is in your ________________.
  3. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  10. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  17. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. That must've been a ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. court — for sport
  3. root — the cause
  4. stem — to come from
  5. land — to come down
  6. face — to point toward
  7. land — ground
  8. clip — for paper
  9. face — to confront
  10. club — for golf
  11. court — of a king
  12. root — of a word
  13. clip — to cut
  14. club — a group
  15. land — a country
  16. rush — hurry
  17. face — part of the head
  18. root — of a plant
  19. court — of law
  20. clip — a video
  21. club — for dancing
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. rush — a thrill
  24. stem — a stem cell

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