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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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  12. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  13. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. present — the time now
  5. chair — a leader
  6. tear — from crying
  7. ground — crushed
  8. cold — an illness
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. tear — to rip
  11. bass — low music
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. ground — the earth
  14. present — a gift
  15. ground — a position
  16. chair — to sit on
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. bass — the instrument
  19. cold — not warm
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bass — the fish
  22. tear — from crying
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. nail — on a finger

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