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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 120 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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  4. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  13. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  14. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  18. He is an ace ________________.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bat — the animal
  3. bass — the instrument
  4. bass — the fish
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. row — a line
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. bass — low music
  9. row — to paddle
  10. rash — on the skin
  11. rash — hasty
  12. net — in sport
  13. stem — of a plant
  14. stem — a stem cell
  15. net — for catching
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. net — after costs
  18. pitcher — in baseball
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. stem — to come from
  21. prune — to trim
  22. rash — a series
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bat — for baseball

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