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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 112 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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  16. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  23. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bass — low music
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bass — the fish
  8. bass — the instrument
  9. spell — magic
  10. spell — a short time
  11. root — of a word
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. root — of a plant
  14. spell — letters
  15. kid — to tease
  16. mine — belonging to me
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. root — the cause
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. mine — for digging
  22. season — in sport
  23. bat — the animal
  24. season — of the year

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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