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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: game · mine · branch · dip · roll · stem · file · cell

  1. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  2. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  3. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. That was a fun ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  11. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  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. stem — to come from
  2. roll — a cake
  3. cell — a phone
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. game — a match
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. file — a line of people
  8. file — a document
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. branch — of a bank
  11. dip — a sauce
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. branch — a division
  14. dip — to sink
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. roll — a list
  17. file — a tool
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. cell — in biology
  21. game — wild animals
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. mine — for digging
  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