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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. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. The King held a masked ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. ball — a dance
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. field — a subject
  5. ball — a round shape
  6. prune — to trim
  7. field — for sport
  8. tear — from crying
  9. swing — music
  10. pop — to visit
  11. wind — moving air
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — in golf
  15. pop — music
  16. prune — to trim
  17. wind — moving air
  18. ball — a great time
  19. deal — to handle
  20. field — farmland
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. tear — to rip
  23. swing — to play on
  24. pop — soda

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