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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  7. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  11. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  14. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  18. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. row — a line
  4. tear — to rip
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. bass — low music
  7. kid — child
  8. prune — to trim
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. squash — to crush
  11. pit — in a race
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pit — a fruit stone
  14. pit — a hole
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. squash — the sport
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. bass — the fish
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. bass — the instrument
  21. tear — from crying
  22. kid — to tease
  23. tear — from crying
  24. row — to paddle

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