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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. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  2. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  3. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  17. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  18. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — to handle
  2. bass — the fish
  3. drill — the tool
  4. prune — to trim
  5. deal — a big deal
  6. pit — a hole
  7. prune — to trim
  8. spring — the season
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. cold — an illness
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. cold — not warm
  14. fork — to eat with
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bass — the instrument
  17. drill — a practice
  18. fork — in a road
  19. drill — army training
  20. spring — of water
  21. spring — a coil
  22. pit — in a race
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. bass — low music

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