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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. He was locked up in a ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  9. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  10. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  20. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  21. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  22. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. chest — a box
  5. cell — in a prison
  6. prune — to trim
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. cell — a phone
  9. tear — from crying
  10. club — for dancing
  11. chest — of your body
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. chest — of your body
  15. tear — from crying
  16. perch — the fish
  17. tear — to rip
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. chair — to sit on
  20. club — for golf
  21. chair — a leader
  22. chair — a professorship
  23. cell — in biology
  24. club — a group

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