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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. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. He was locked up in a ________________.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. prune — to trim
  3. capital — a city
  4. stock — a soup base
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. cell — in a prison
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. squash — the sport
  9. court — of a king
  10. stock — goods
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. cell — a phone
  13. court — of law
  14. cell — in biology
  15. squash — to crush
  16. prune — to trim
  17. stock — shares
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. squash — the vegetable
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. lash — to lash out
  22. capital — money
  23. court — for sport
  24. lash — a whip stroke

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