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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. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  2. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  3. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  4. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. You don't need to ________________ round.
  8. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — pulled by horses
  2. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  3. track — a path
  4. bear — the animal
  5. spell — a short time
  6. cold — not warm
  7. pop — to visit
  8. coach — a trainer
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. prune — to trim
  12. spell — letters
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. spell — magic
  15. kid — child
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. track — a song
  18. bear — the animal
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. cold — an illness
  21. kid — to tease
  22. pop — soda
  23. track — to keep track
  24. pop — music

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