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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  6. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  7. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. He was locked up in a ________________.
  23. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  24. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. kid — child
  4. bat — the animal
  5. fine — all right
  6. fine — a penalty
  7. straw — a straw man
  8. kid — to tease
  9. prune — to trim
  10. fork — in a road
  11. spring — a coil
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. cell — a phone
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. spring — of water
  16. cell — in biology
  17. fine — high quality
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. spring — the season
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. cell — in a prison
  23. fork — a garden tool
  24. fork — to eat with

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