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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. He works in a ________________ mill.
  16. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. cold — an illness
  3. lean — to bend
  4. prune — to trim
  5. saw — the tool
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. pop — soda
  11. lean — thin
  12. shower — to wash
  13. pop — to visit
  14. cold — not warm
  15. saw — the tool
  16. shower — a meteor shower
  17. scale — in music
  18. scale — for weighing
  19. pop — music
  20. lean — to rest against
  21. shower — rain
  22. present — there
  23. present — a gift
  24. scale — size or range

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