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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: track · cold · land · spring · press · row · stem · coach

  1. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  2. Did you ________________ the button?
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  12. Have you met the new head ________________?
  13. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. Many English words ________________ from Latin.

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

Answer key

  1. land — a country
  2. press — to push
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. row — to paddle
  5. track — to keep track
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. track — a song
  8. cold — an illness
  9. land — ground
  10. spring — a coil
  11. press — newspapers
  12. coach — a trainer
  13. press — a publisher
  14. row — a line
  15. track — a path
  16. land — to come down
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. spring — the season
  20. spring — of water
  21. cold — not warm
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. stem — to come from

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