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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. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. My father caught me by the ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  21. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. current — of water
  3. game — a match
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. ground — the earth
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cell — in biology
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. ground — crushed
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. file — a line of people
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. cell — a phone
  14. ground — a position
  15. game — wild animals
  16. arm — part of the body
  17. file — a document
  18. current — electric
  19. mine — for digging
  20. arm — a part of something
  21. mine — belonging to me
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. current — happening now
  24. file — a tool

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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