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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. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  16. We're almost out of ________________.
  17. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  18. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. That was a fun ________________.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. leaves — to go away
  4. cell — a phone
  5. shower — rain
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bark — to shout
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. pop — to visit
  12. cell — in biology
  13. game — wild animals
  14. prune — to trim
  15. shower — to wash
  16. pop — soda
  17. game — a kind of play
  18. leaves — lets stay
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. pop — music
  21. game — a match
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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