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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  3. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  18. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. cap — a hat
  3. pit — a fruit stone
  4. prune — to trim
  5. wind — moving air
  6. shower — to wash
  7. pit — in a race
  8. prune — to trim
  9. spell — a short time
  10. spell — letters
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. hand — in cards
  13. pop — soda
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cap — of ice
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. pop — music
  18. hand — help
  19. shower — rain
  20. wind — moving air
  21. pit — a hole
  22. cap — a lid
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. spell — magic

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