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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  10. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  11. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. I'll be taking the ________________.
  19. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. band — a ring
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. shower — rain
  5. rest — what's left
  6. game — a match
  7. tube — a container
  8. game — wild animals
  9. straw — dry grass
  10. shower — a meteor shower
  11. game — a kind of play
  12. rest — what's left
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. prune — to trim
  15. rest — a break
  16. shower — to wash
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. tube — the underground
  19. dip — a sauce
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. dip — to sink
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. band — a music group
  24. band — a rubber band

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