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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. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  14. We're on a ________________ here.
  15. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  16. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. land — ground
  3. wound — an injury
  4. land — to come down
  5. kick — in football
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. land — a country
  9. chip — to eat
  10. kick — with a leg
  11. chip — for betting
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. lean — thin
  14. roll — on a roll
  15. chip — in a computer
  16. lean — to bend
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. roll — a cake
  19. row — to paddle
  20. prune — to trim
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. roll — a list
  23. row — a line
  24. wound — an injury

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