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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The ________________ market has crashed.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  23. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. squash — the sport
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — not warm
  6. squash — to crush
  7. calf — a young animal
  8. capital — money
  9. tear — to rip
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. tear — from crying
  12. calf — a young animal
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. capital — a city
  15. cold — an illness
  16. stock — shares
  17. court — of a king
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. court — for sport
  20. stock — goods
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. calf — of the leg
  23. court — of law
  24. prune — to trim

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