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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 124 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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  6. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  19. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spring — the season
  3. hand — in cards
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. rash — a series
  6. chip — to eat
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. cold — an illness
  9. cold — not warm
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. chip — for betting
  12. pound — a weight
  13. hand — help
  14. rest — what's left
  15. rash — hasty
  16. rest — what's left
  17. spring — of water
  18. chip — in a computer
  19. hand — part of the body
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. prune — to trim
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. spring — a coil
  24. rest — a break

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