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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 112 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. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  17. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. file — a line of people
  3. game — a match
  4. file — a tool
  5. spring — a coil
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. coach — pulled by horses
  8. row — a line
  9. spring — of water
  10. spring — the season
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. kid — child
  15. prune — to trim
  16. file — a document
  17. row — to paddle
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. bay — to keep at bay
  21. kid — to tease
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. game — wild animals
  24. bay — a part of the sea

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