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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. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. Have you met the new head ________________?
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  14. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  22. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  23. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. cold — not warm
  6. bark — of a tree
  7. scale — in music
  8. fall — to drop
  9. bark — to shout
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. bat — the animal
  13. fall — the season
  14. fall — to drop
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. bay — a part of the sea
  20. cold — an illness
  21. bay — to keep at bay
  22. scale — for weighing
  23. coach — a trainer
  24. bat — for baseball

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