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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. He was locked up in a ________________.
  3. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. The ________________ took off on time.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. cell — in a prison
  3. ground — crushed
  4. field — for sport
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. ground — a position
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. row — a quarrel
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. field — farmland
  11. ground — the earth
  12. cell — in biology
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. row — a line
  15. cell — a phone
  16. field — a subject
  17. prune — to trim
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. plane — an aircraft
  21. plane — a tool
  22. bat — the animal
  23. plane — in geometry
  24. row — to paddle

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