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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. That must've been a ________________.
  2. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  3. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  6. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  20. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — a thrill
  2. toast — a drink to someone
  3. toast — the most admired
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rush — hurry
  6. shower — a meteor shower
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. cold — not warm
  9. toast — bread
  10. bark — of a tree
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. shower — rain
  13. shower — to wash
  14. bark — to shout
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. rush — to hurry
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. plane — a tool
  20. stem — to come from
  21. prune — to trim
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. prune — to trim
  24. plane — in geometry

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