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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  11. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. shower — to wash
  3. cold — not warm
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. board — to get on
  7. stem — to come from
  8. cold — an illness
  9. squash — the sport
  10. ground — crushed
  11. stem — of a plant
  12. squash — to crush
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. spell — magic
  15. ground — the earth
  16. prune — to trim
  17. ground — a position
  18. spell — letters
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. board — a committee
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. shower — rain
  24. spell — a short time

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