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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  16. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. He was locked up in a ________________.
  20. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  21. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. dip — to sink
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. chest — a box
  6. cell — in biology
  7. chip — to eat
  8. ground — the earth
  9. ground — crushed
  10. chest — of your body
  11. game — a match
  12. present — a gift
  13. game — wild animals
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. dip — to dunk
  16. chest — of your body
  17. ground — a position
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cell — in a prison
  20. chip — in a computer
  21. cell — a phone
  22. present — there
  23. present — the time now
  24. chip — for betting

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