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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  10. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  11. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  24. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. key — for a lock
  4. stem — to come from
  5. shower — to wash
  6. hand — in cards
  7. shower — rain
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. scale — size or range
  10. band — a music group
  11. key — the most important part
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. hand — help
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pitch — completely
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. scale — in music
  21. key — in music
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. band — a rubber band
  24. band — a ring

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