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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  4. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ________________ market has crashed.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  15. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. tear — from crying
  3. row — to paddle
  4. tear — from crying
  5. press — to push
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. prune — to trim
  11. stock — shares
  12. press — a publisher
  13. bat — the animal
  14. stock — a soup base
  15. last — final
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. dip — to sink
  18. last — to go on
  19. last — finally
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. press — newspapers
  22. row — a line
  23. stock — goods
  24. tear — to rip

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