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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  18. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  19. That must've been a ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bowl — a football final
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. prune — to trim
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — to cut
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. spring — of water
  12. fork — to eat with
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. rush — hurry
  18. bay — to keep at bay
  19. rush — a thrill
  20. spring — the season
  21. clip — for paper
  22. fork — in a road
  23. clip — a video
  24. cold — not warm

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