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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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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: hand · stem · cold · stick · degree · fork · plane · capital

  1. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  2. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  3. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  6. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  9. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. The ________________ took off on time.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stick — to attach or keep to
  2. stem — to come from
  3. fork — to eat with
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. hand — in cards
  6. stem — a stem cell
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. degree — from a university
  9. capital — money
  10. degree — temperature
  11. capital — a big letter
  12. hand — help
  13. stick — a piece of wood
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — an illness
  16. fork — in a road
  17. plane — an aircraft
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. degree — an amount
  20. plane — a tool
  21. hand — part of the body
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. cold — not warm
  24. stick — a piece of wood

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