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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  8. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  20. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  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. spring — the season
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. capital — money
  6. cold — not warm
  7. capital — a big letter
  8. racket — for tennis
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. capital — a city
  11. prune — to trim
  12. fork — in a road
  13. chip — to eat
  14. spring — of water
  15. chip — for betting
  16. cold — an illness
  17. spring — a coil
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. chip — in a computer
  20. jam — a tight spot
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. racket — for tennis
  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