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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: sharp · bulb · face · capital · fall · cold · stem · rock

  1. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  2. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  10. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  11. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  22. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. fall — to drop
  3. cold — not warm
  4. stem — to come from
  5. face — to confront
  6. capital — a big letter
  7. cold — an illness
  8. capital — a city
  9. fall — the season
  10. rock — music
  11. stem — a stem cell
  12. capital — money
  13. rock — a stone
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. face — part of the head
  16. sharp — clever
  17. bulb — for light
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. bulb — of a plant
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. face — to point toward
  22. rock — to move gently
  23. bulb — for light
  24. stem — of a plant

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