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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. The ball is in your ________________.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. date — the fruit
  4. scale — in music
  5. prune — to trim
  6. clip — a video
  7. spring — a coil
  8. spring — the season
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. root — the cause
  12. scale — size or range
  13. spring — of water
  14. root — of a word
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. clip — to cut
  17. clip — for paper
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. root — of a plant
  20. court — of law
  21. court — of a king
  22. court — for sport
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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