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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. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. When was this ________________ built?
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. net — in sport
  2. spring — of water
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. temple — a place of worship
  5. branch — a division
  6. prune — to trim
  7. land — ground
  8. last — to go on
  9. temple — side of the head
  10. land — to come down
  11. temple — a place of worship
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. net — after costs
  14. prune — to trim
  15. mine — for digging
  16. spring — a coil
  17. net — for catching
  18. last — final
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. mine — belonging to me
  21. land — a country
  22. last — finally
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. spring — the season

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