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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. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  8. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  9. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. How do you ________________ your surname?
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. The ________________ market has crashed.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. ruler — a monarch
  2. prune — to trim
  3. perch — the fish
  4. face — to confront
  5. capital — a city
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. face — to point toward
  8. stock — a soup base
  9. rash — on the skin
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. stock — goods
  12. spell — magic
  13. spell — a short time
  14. rash — hasty
  15. prune — to trim
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. capital — money
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. spell — letters
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. rash — a series
  22. face — part of the head
  23. stock — shares
  24. prune — the fruit

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