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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. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  5. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. I'll be taking the ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  15. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — in an idiom
  2. bat — the animal
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. dip — a sauce
  5. date — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. tube — a container
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. spring — the season
  11. tube — the underground
  12. degree — an amount
  13. prune — to trim
  14. squash — to crush
  15. date — on the calendar
  16. squash — the sport
  17. dip — to sink
  18. degree — from a university
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. tube — in a tire
  21. spring — a coil
  22. degree — temperature
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. spring — of water

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