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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. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  5. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  13. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  14. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  20. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. wave — with your hand
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bat — the animal
  4. bark — to shout
  5. wave — a sudden rise
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. cold — not warm
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. court — of law
  11. court — for sport
  12. court — of a king
  13. trunk — of an elephant
  14. trunk — of a tree
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. cold — an illness
  19. ruler — for measuring
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. wave — of the sea
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. prune — the fruit

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