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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 120 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 took the fish out of the ________________.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. net — for catching
  2. spring — the season
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. game — a kind of play
  6. net — in sport
  7. march — the month
  8. wind — moving air
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. spring — of water
  11. net — after costs
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pit — a fruit stone
  15. wind — moving air
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pit — a hole
  18. game — a match
  19. march — music
  20. game — wild animals
  21. pit — in a race
  22. march — the month
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. spring — a coil

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