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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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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: fork · racket · tear · cold · content · stem · rule · wind

  1. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  9. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. wind — moving air
  3. content — happy
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. rule — government
  7. cold — an illness
  8. stem — to come from
  9. racket — for tennis
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. rule — a law
  12. tear — from crying
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. cold — not warm
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. content — the amount
  17. wind — moving air
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. fork — in a road
  20. tear — from crying
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. tear — to rip
  24. fork — a garden tool

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