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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 116 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. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  20. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. rush — hurry
  3. spell — magic
  4. land — ground
  5. spell — a short time
  6. file — a line of people
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. lean — to bend
  10. file — a document
  11. lean — to rest against
  12. file — a tool
  13. bark — to shout
  14. lean — thin
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. land — a country
  18. prune — to trim
  19. stem — to come from
  20. stem — a stem cell
  21. prune — to trim
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. land — to come down

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