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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 116 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. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  12. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. lie — to recline
  2. cold — an illness
  3. cold — not warm
  4. lie — an untruth
  5. net — after costs
  6. spell — letters
  7. net — for catching
  8. snap — to click
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. spell — a short time
  12. key — the most important part
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. snap — to speak sharply
  15. prune — to trim
  16. key — in music
  17. key — for a lock
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. spell — magic
  21. prune — to trim
  22. net — in sport
  23. lie — an untruth
  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