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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. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  2. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — decided
  2. firm — a company
  3. last — final
  4. prune — to trim
  5. last — finally
  6. field — a subject
  7. kid — to tease
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. chest — of your body
  10. firm — steady
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. last — to go on
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. shower — rain
  15. field — for sport
  16. chest — of your body
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. pit — a hole
  20. chest — a box
  21. kid — child
  22. shower — to wash
  23. pit — in a race
  24. field — farmland

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