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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. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  2. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  7. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  8. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  9. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  10. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  16. You don't need to ________________ round.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  23. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  24. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. perch — the fish
  2. lean — to bend
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. pop — soda
  6. pit — a hole
  7. capital — a city
  8. lean — thin
  9. arm — a part of something
  10. pit — in a race
  11. spring — the season
  12. pop — music
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. lean — to rest against
  16. pop — to visit
  17. spring — a coil
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. spring — of water
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. capital — money
  23. arm — part of the body
  24. pit — a fruit stone

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