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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 116 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. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  19. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. pit — a fruit stone
  3. prune — to trim
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. mine — for digging
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. cold — an illness
  11. straw — a straw man
  12. cold — not warm
  13. rule — a law
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. cell — a phone
  16. pit — a hole
  17. cell — in biology
  18. mine — belonging to me
  19. pit — in a race
  20. prune — to trim
  21. deal — to handle
  22. rule — government
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. prune — the fruit

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