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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. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Where did you ________________ them?
  5. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bore — gave birth
  3. land — ground
  4. mug — to rob
  5. bore — to tire
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. spell — a short time
  8. cold — an illness
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bore — to drill
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. mug — a face
  13. spell — magic
  14. cold — not warm
  15. spell — letters
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. mug — a cup
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. land — a country
  20. prune — to trim
  21. land — to come down
  22. game — wild animals
  23. game — a match
  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