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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 120 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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. This piece is in a major ________________.
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. root — the cause
  3. chest — of your body
  4. prune — to trim
  5. spring — a coil
  6. court — for sport
  7. file — a tool
  8. court — of a king
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. root — of a plant
  11. spring — of water
  12. key — in music
  13. court — of law
  14. chest — a box
  15. spring — the season
  16. key — for a lock
  17. chest — of your body
  18. key — the most important part
  19. root — of a word
  20. plane — a tool
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. file — a line of people
  23. file — a document
  24. plane — an aircraft

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