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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. The ________________ went through the wall.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. shower — to wash
  3. hand — in cards
  4. nail — for a hammer
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. content — happy
  7. court — for sport
  8. content — the amount
  9. nail — for a hammer
  10. hand — help
  11. clip — to cut
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. court — of a king
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. prune — to trim
  16. court — of law
  17. saw — the tool
  18. saw — the tool
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. clip — a video
  21. shower — rain
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. clip — for paper
  24. prune — to trim

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