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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. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. It's one o'clock ________________.
  7. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  23. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  24. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. capital — a city
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. prune — to trim
  6. sharp — exactly
  7. capital — money
  8. field — a subject
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. bay — a part of the sea
  12. chest — of your body
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bay — to keep at bay
  15. shower — rain
  16. branch — a division
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. shower — a meteor shower
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. field — farmland
  22. shower — to wash
  23. sharp — clever
  24. field — for sport

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