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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: stem · row · scale · pop · jam · land · court · spring

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The ball is in your ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. jam — to spread on bread
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. row — a quarrel
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. land — ground
  7. pop — music
  8. spring — the season
  9. row — a line
  10. pop — to visit
  11. land — to come down
  12. jam — in traffic
  13. court — of law
  14. court — for sport
  15. spring — a coil
  16. land — a country
  17. spring — of water
  18. stem — to come from
  19. scale — size or range
  20. pop — soda
  21. scale — in music
  22. row — to paddle
  23. court — of a king
  24. scale — for weighing

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