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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 ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  15. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  16. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  19. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. lie — an untruth
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. field — for sport
  5. tear — from crying
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. field — farmland
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. net — in sport
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. bore — gave birth
  13. bore — to drill
  14. field — a subject
  15. lie — to recline
  16. scale — in music
  17. tear — from crying
  18. bore — to tire
  19. scale — size or range
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — to rip
  23. net — for catching
  24. net — after costs

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