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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. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  6. We're almost out of ________________.
  7. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. trunk — of a car
  2. pit — a hole
  3. pop — music
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spell — magic
  6. pop — soda
  7. trunk — of a tree
  8. pop — to visit
  9. fall — to drop
  10. spell — letters
  11. game — a match
  12. tear — to rip
  13. fall — to drop
  14. pit — in a race
  15. prune — to trim
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. spell — a short time
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. fall — the season
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. tear — from crying
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. prune — to trim
  24. tear — from crying

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