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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. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  3. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  10. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  19. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  24. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. toast — the most admired
  3. toast — a drink to someone
  4. land — to come down
  5. file — a line of people
  6. land — a country
  7. leaves — to go away
  8. file — a document
  9. scale — for weighing
  10. tube — a container
  11. tube — the underground
  12. toast — bread
  13. file — a tool
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. land — ground
  16. leaves — of a tree
  17. scale — size or range
  18. snap — to click
  19. snap — to snap out of it
  20. scale — in music
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. prune — to trim
  23. snap — to speak sharply
  24. tube — in a tire

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