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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. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. That was a fun ________________.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  23. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  24. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tear — from crying
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. racket — a loud noise
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. game — a match
  9. cold — not warm
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. bowl — a dish
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. racket — for tennis
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. tear — from crying
  17. tear — to rip
  18. game — wild animals
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. prune — to trim
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. bowl — a football final
  23. branch — a division
  24. bowl — to roll

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