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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  6. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  7. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wave — with your hand
  3. mine — for digging
  4. clip — for paper
  5. staff — employees
  6. wave — of the sea
  7. staff — a stick
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. tear — from crying
  10. mine — belonging to me
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. pit — a hole
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. clip — a video
  18. staff — employees
  19. tear — to rip
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. pit — in a race
  22. prune — to trim
  23. tear — from crying
  24. clip — to cut

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