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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  12. I've got to change the light ________________.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. This knife is not ________________ enough.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. tear — from crying
  3. court — of law
  4. branch — a division
  5. file — a line of people
  6. court — for sport
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. prune — to trim
  9. tear — from crying
  10. cue — a hint
  11. cue — a signal
  12. bulb — for light
  13. tear — to rip
  14. sharp — clever
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. court — of a king
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. file — a tool
  20. cue — for pool
  21. file — a document
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. bulb — for light
  24. sharp — with an edge

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