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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. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. How do you ________________ your surname?
  10. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ took off on time.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — an illness
  4. plane — a tool
  5. rock — a stone
  6. shower — to wash
  7. wake — a trail
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. spell — letters
  10. spell — magic
  11. root — of a plant
  12. shower — rain
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. root — of a word
  16. spell — a short time
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. cold — not warm
  19. plane — an aircraft
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. wake — to stop sleeping
  23. root — the cause
  24. plane — in geometry

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