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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. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  21. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. chair — a professorship
  2. spring — the season
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. fine — all right
  7. squash — to crush
  8. date — the fruit
  9. spring — of water
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chair — a leader
  13. row — to paddle
  14. spring — a coil
  15. row — a line
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. fine — high quality
  21. fine — a penalty
  22. squash — the sport
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. date — on the calendar

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