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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. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  2. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  11. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The ________________ went through the wall.
  16. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  17. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  22. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. shower — to wash
  2. file — a tool
  3. squash — to crush
  4. prune — to trim
  5. track — a song
  6. roll — a cake
  7. file — a document
  8. shower — rain
  9. spring — of water
  10. nail — for a hammer
  11. track — a path
  12. file — a line of people
  13. track — to keep track
  14. spring — a coil
  15. nail — for a hammer
  16. nail — on a finger
  17. squash — the vegetable
  18. prune — to trim
  19. roll — a list
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. spring — the season
  22. shower — a meteor shower
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. squash — the sport

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