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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. David sat on the ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Have you found your soul ________________?
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  9. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. It's one o'clock ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  17. The ball is in your ________________.
  18. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  19. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. swing — to play on
  2. prune — to trim
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. mate — a partner
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. swing — music
  8. scale — in music
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. mate — to breed
  11. content — the amount
  12. sharp — exactly
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. scale — size or range
  15. prune — to trim
  16. content — happy
  17. court — for sport
  18. coach — pulled by horses
  19. court — of a king
  20. mate — a friend
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. court — of law
  23. sharp — clever
  24. swing — in golf

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