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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 116 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: firm · spring · cold · lean · land · stem · ground · hand

  1. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  2. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  14. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  15. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. There's no middle ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. stem — a stem cell
  2. land — a country
  3. cold — an illness
  4. firm — a company
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. spring — of water
  7. ground — the earth
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. spring — a coil
  10. land — ground
  11. land — to come down
  12. hand — in cards
  13. lean — to bend
  14. firm — steady
  15. firm — decided
  16. cold — not warm
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. ground — crushed
  19. stem — to come from
  20. spring — the season
  21. hand — help
  22. ground — a position
  23. lean — thin
  24. lean — to rest against

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