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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. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  8. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  9. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. He is an ace ________________.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  21. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  22. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. We ________________ up on opposing sides.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spring — of water
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. field — for sport
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. wound — an injury
  7. spring — the season
  8. bowl — to roll
  9. foot — part of the body
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pitcher — in baseball
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. bowl — a dish
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. foot — a measure
  17. field — a subject
  18. field — farmland
  19. wound — an injury
  20. foot — the bottom
  21. content — the amount
  22. content — happy
  23. spring — a coil
  24. wound — past of 'wind'

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