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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. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  3. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  7. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. How do you ________________ your surname?
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  24. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. wake — a trail
  3. mark — to pay attention
  4. spell — a short time
  5. prune — to trim
  6. hand — in cards
  7. safe — out of danger
  8. bat — the animal
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. spell — magic
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. file — a line of people
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. mark — a trace
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. file — a document
  20. prune — to trim
  21. spell — letters
  22. mark — a grade
  23. safe — a strongbox
  24. file — a tool

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