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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  12. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  15. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  23. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  24. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mine — an explosive
  3. prune — to trim
  4. scale — for weighing
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. fall — the season
  9. fall — to drop
  10. kid — child
  11. deal — a big deal
  12. deal — to handle
  13. scale — size or range
  14. kid — to tease
  15. wound — an injury
  16. wound — an injury
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. fall — to drop
  19. content — happy
  20. deal — an agreement
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. content — the amount
  23. scale — in music
  24. mine — for digging

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