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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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  15. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  16. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The King held a masked ________________.
  21. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  24. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. tear — from crying
  3. fall — to drop
  4. prune — to trim
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. scale — size or range
  7. race — a contest
  8. race — humankind
  9. track — a path
  10. tear — from crying
  11. scale — for weighing
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. race — the arms race
  14. ball — a round shape
  15. ball — a great time
  16. track — to keep track
  17. tear — to rip
  18. track — a song
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. ball — a dance
  21. fall — to drop
  22. fall — the season
  23. fan — a supporter
  24. scale — in music

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