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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  15. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. plane — a tool
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. file — a tool
  5. content — happy
  6. chest — of your body
  7. march — the month
  8. plane — in geometry
  9. prune — to trim
  10. content — the amount
  11. deal — to handle
  12. chest — of your body
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. bat — the animal
  15. content — videos and posts
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. chest — a box
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. file — a line of people
  21. march — the month
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. file — a document
  24. march — music

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