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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. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  6. The ball is in your ________________.
  7. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Have you found your soul ________________?
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. cold — not warm
  5. pound — a weight
  6. court — for sport
  7. staff — employees
  8. tear — from crying
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. mate — a partner
  11. court — of law
  12. staff — a stick
  13. cold — an illness
  14. tear — to rip
  15. mate — to breed
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. pound — to hit hard
  18. wake — a trail
  19. pound — for dogs
  20. mate — a friend
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — from crying
  23. court — of a king
  24. wake — before a funeral

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