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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  18. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  22. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. wound — an injury
  3. staff — a stick
  4. hand — help
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. wound — past of 'wind'
  9. hand — in cards
  10. prune — to trim
  11. staff — employees
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. cell — a phone
  14. cell — in biology
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. file — a line of people
  17. staff — employees
  18. wound — an injury
  19. file — a document
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. file — a tool
  22. mine — for digging
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. prune — to trim

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