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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: kid · land · chest · stick · present · cold · bear · stem

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  7. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  8. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  18. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. present — the time now
  3. chest — of your body
  4. kid — to tease
  5. chest — of your body
  6. bear — the animal
  7. chest — a box
  8. kid — child
  9. land — ground
  10. cold — not warm
  11. present — there
  12. cold — an illness
  13. stem — to come from
  14. bear — the animal
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bear — to put up with
  18. stick — a piece of wood
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. present — a gift
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. land — a country
  24. cold — the Cold War

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