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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  8. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  15. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. foot — the bottom
  6. scale — size or range
  7. foot — a measure
  8. spell — magic
  9. spell — letters
  10. cold — an illness
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. foot — part of the body
  13. field — for sport
  14. field — farmland
  15. club — for golf
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. prune — to trim
  18. spell — a short time
  19. club — for dancing
  20. cold — not warm
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. field — a subject
  23. scale — in music
  24. club — a group

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