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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. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  2. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. swing — to play on
  4. spring — of water
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. tear — from crying
  7. root — of a word
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spring — the season
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. court — of a king
  13. swing — in golf
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. root — the cause
  16. prune — to trim
  17. court — for sport
  18. root — of a plant
  19. spring — a coil
  20. bark — to shout
  21. tear — to rip
  22. court — of law
  23. prune — to trim
  24. swing — music

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