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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 116 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. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  12. You don't need to ________________ round.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. wound — an injury
  5. file — a document
  6. present — a gift
  7. wound — an injury
  8. field — farmland
  9. field — a subject
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pop — music
  12. pop — to visit
  13. pop — soda
  14. field — for sport
  15. game — wild animals
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wind — moving air
  19. present — the time now
  20. wind — moving air
  21. file — a tool
  22. game — a match
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. file — a line of people

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