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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 124 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 ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  8. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. We're on a ________________ here.
  12. Have you settled on a ________________?
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  24. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. cold — not warm
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. date — the fruit
  7. game — a kind of play
  8. trunk — of a car
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. game — a match
  11. roll — on a roll
  12. date — on the calendar
  13. deal — to handle
  14. prune — to trim
  15. roll — a list
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. trunk — of an elephant
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — to trim
  21. roll — a cake
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. game — wild animals
  24. date — on the calendar

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