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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. We're almost out of ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. That must've been a ________________.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  9. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  10. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  11. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  12. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  21. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  24. It's one o'clock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — soda
  2. pop — to visit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. rush — a thrill
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. tear — from crying
  9. capital — a big letter
  10. snap — to speak sharply
  11. snap — to click
  12. sharp — clever
  13. pop — music
  14. tear — to rip
  15. prune — to trim
  16. field — farmland
  17. field — for sport
  18. capital — money
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rush — hurry
  21. capital — a city
  22. field — a subject
  23. sharp — with an edge
  24. sharp — exactly

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