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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. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  6. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Did you ________________ the button?
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. wind — moving air
  3. craft — a skill
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. pit — in a race
  6. perch — the fish
  7. prune — to trim
  8. press — a publisher
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. game — a match
  11. wind — to turn a key
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. prune — to trim
  14. press — newspapers
  15. wind — moving air
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. tear — from crying
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. game — wild animals
  20. tear — to rip
  21. press — to push
  22. tear — from crying
  23. pit — a hole
  24. craft — a handicraft

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