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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  13. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. That was a fun ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. prune — to trim
  3. spring — the season
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. stem — to come from
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. game — wild animals
  8. leaves — lets stay
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. stem — of a plant
  11. roll — a list
  12. dip — a sauce
  13. roll — a cake
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. spring — of water
  17. game — a match
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. dip — to sink
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. spring — a coil
  23. dip — to dunk
  24. prune — to trim

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