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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. sharp — clever
  3. game — a match
  4. drill — army training
  5. game — wild animals
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. drill — the tool
  8. tear — from crying
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. tear — to rip
  11. content — videos and posts
  12. drill — a practice
  13. content — the amount
  14. content — happy
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. tear — from crying
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. prune — to trim

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