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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. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  2. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. He was locked up in a ________________.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  7. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  10. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  21. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  22. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  23. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — to roll
  2. track — a song
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cell — in a prison
  5. track — to keep track
  6. bowl — a football final
  7. march — music
  8. last — to go on
  9. bowl — a dish
  10. last — finally
  11. track — a path
  12. cell — in biology
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. last — final
  15. march — the month
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. lean — to rest against
  18. cell — a phone
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. lean — thin
  21. lean — to bend
  22. straw — a straw man
  23. march — the month
  24. prune — to trim

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