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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 124 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 shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  7. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  12. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  13. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  14. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. tear — from crying
  3. spell — a short time
  4. scale — size or range
  5. scale — in music
  6. calf — a young animal
  7. spell — magic
  8. mate — to breed
  9. present — a gift
  10. spring — a coil
  11. present — there
  12. scale — for weighing
  13. calf — of the leg
  14. calf — a young animal
  15. mate — a partner
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. prune — to trim
  18. spring — of water
  19. mate — a friend
  20. spell — letters
  21. tear — to rip
  22. spring — the season
  23. present — the time now
  24. tear — from crying

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