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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. Did you ________________ the button?
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  10. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  11. That was a fun ________________.
  12. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  22. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. The elephant has a huge ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. press — to push
  6. tear — to rip
  7. press — a publisher
  8. prune — to trim
  9. content — happy
  10. trunk — of a tree
  11. game — a match
  12. content — the amount
  13. prune — to trim
  14. chip — for betting
  15. mine — for digging
  16. chip — to eat
  17. press — newspapers
  18. trunk — of a car
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. tear — from crying
  21. chip — in a computer
  22. content — videos and posts
  23. tear — from crying
  24. trunk — of an elephant

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