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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 120 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. When was this ________________ built?
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  18. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. march — the month
  4. capital — a city
  5. net — in sport
  6. prune — to trim
  7. spring — of water
  8. kid — to tease
  9. spring — a coil
  10. temple — side of the head
  11. net — for catching
  12. temple — a place of worship
  13. spring — the season
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. cue — for pool
  17. cue — a hint
  18. net — after costs
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. kid — child
  21. cue — a signal
  22. capital — money
  23. march — music
  24. march — the month

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