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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 · track · spell · court · pitcher · snap · cold · ground

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  19. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He is an ace ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — to come from
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. spell — a short time
  4. snap — to click
  5. spell — letters
  6. ground — a position
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. court — for sport
  9. stem — a stem cell
  10. track — a song
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. court — of a king
  13. ground — the earth
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. track — a path
  16. cold — not warm
  17. ground — crushed
  18. track — to keep track
  19. spell — magic
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. court — of law
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. cold — an illness
  24. pitcher — in baseball

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