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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: stem · fan · land · wound · ground · cold · mark · drill

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  3. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. stem — of a plant
  3. stem — to come from
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. land — to come down
  6. mark — a grade
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. land — ground
  9. wound — an injury
  10. ground — a position
  11. mark — to pay attention
  12. ground — crushed
  13. drill — army training
  14. drill — the tool
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cold — not warm
  17. drill — a practice
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. fan — a supporter
  20. ground — the earth
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. land — a country
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. mark — a trace

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