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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  3. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Don't do anything ________________.
  13. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. rash — on the skin
  3. field — for sport
  4. shower — rain
  5. lean — to bend
  6. land — ground
  7. cell — a phone
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cell — in biology
  11. prune — to trim
  12. rash — hasty
  13. land — a country
  14. pop — to visit
  15. lean — thin
  16. rash — a series
  17. shower — to wash
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. field — a subject
  21. land — to come down
  22. field — farmland
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. pop — soda

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