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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  8. How do you ________________ your surname?
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  15. My father caught me by the ________________.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  24. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. spell — magic
  5. chip — for betting
  6. chest — of your body
  7. net — after costs
  8. spell — letters
  9. chest — of your body
  10. last — to go on
  11. last — final
  12. last — finally
  13. wind — moving air
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. arm — part of the body
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. spell — a short time
  20. chip — to eat
  21. net — for catching
  22. chest — a box
  23. net — in sport
  24. arm — a part of something

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