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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. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. That must've been a ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a fruit stone
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. pit — a hole
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. rush — a thrill
  8. prune — to trim
  9. jam — a tight spot
  10. bat — the animal
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pit — in a race
  13. cold — not warm
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. jam — in traffic
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. season — of the year
  20. season — in sport
  21. rush — hurry
  22. capital — a city
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. bat — for baseball

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