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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 120 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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  12. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  13. How do you ________________ your surname?
  14. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. That was ________________ to happen.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  20. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. bound — obliged
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. straw — to clutch at straws
  9. spell — a short time
  10. wound — an injury
  11. racket — for tennis
  12. bound — tied together
  13. spell — letters
  14. capital — a city
  15. clip — to cut
  16. clip — for paper
  17. bound — certain
  18. prune — to trim
  19. capital — money
  20. racket — for tennis
  21. clip — a video
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. wound — an injury
  24. prune — to trim

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