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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 116 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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  4. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  5. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  17. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  20. The ball is in your ________________.
  21. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. shower — to wash
  4. mark — to pay attention
  5. pit — a hole
  6. court — of law
  7. spring — the season
  8. race — a contest
  9. court — of a king
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. spring — of water
  12. shower — a meteor shower
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. race — humankind
  16. race — the arms race
  17. bark — to shout
  18. pit — in a race
  19. shower — rain
  20. court — for sport
  21. mark — a grade
  22. spring — a coil
  23. bark — a dog's sound
  24. mark — a trace

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