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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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  8. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  9. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  10. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  11. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. cell — a phone
  5. pit — a fruit stone
  6. cell — in biology
  7. pit — in a race
  8. bat — for baseball
  9. bat — in an idiom
  10. chip — in a computer
  11. pit — a hole
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. ruler — for measuring
  14. snap — to click
  15. bat — the animal
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. prune — to trim
  18. chip — for betting
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. kid — child
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. chip — to eat

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