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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 newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  3. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  4. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  5. David sat on the ________________.
  6. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  7. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  22. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  23. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. foot — the bottom
  3. ball — a great time
  4. ball — a round shape
  5. swing — to play on
  6. bear — the animal
  7. bear — to put up with
  8. game — wild animals
  9. clip — for paper
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. swing — in golf
  13. swing — music
  14. clip — to cut
  15. game — a match
  16. foot — part of the body
  17. ball — a dance
  18. clip — a video
  19. bear — the animal
  20. chest — of your body
  21. foot — a measure
  22. game — a kind of play
  23. chest — of your body
  24. chest — a box

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