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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. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  12. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Don't do anything ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. prune — to trim
  3. rash — a series
  4. kid — to tease
  5. march — the month
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. pitch — a sales talk
  8. field — for sport
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. field — farmland
  11. march — the month
  12. pitch — a sports field
  13. prune — to trim
  14. rash — hasty
  15. kid — child
  16. bank — of a river
  17. march — music
  18. field — a subject
  19. bank — for money
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. pitch — completely
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. fork — in a road

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