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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 116 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. The water is too ________________.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  12. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  23. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  24. He took the fish out of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. pop — to visit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pop — music
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. plane — a tool
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. net — in sport
  10. pop — soda
  11. branch — a division
  12. plane — in geometry
  13. kick — in football
  14. prune — to trim
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. kick — a thrill
  17. band — a music group
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. kick — with a leg
  20. cold — an illness
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. band — a ring
  23. net — after costs
  24. net — for catching

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