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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. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  5. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. foot — a measure
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. foot — part of the body
  5. swing — music
  6. swing — to play on
  7. bat — the animal
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. spell — letters
  10. spell — magic
  11. wind — moving air
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. spell — a short time
  14. foot — the bottom
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. scale — in music
  17. swing — in golf
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. shower — to wash
  20. shower — rain
  21. scale — size or range
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. wind — moving air

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