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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 120 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. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  4. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  5. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  6. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  13. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  14. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. When was this ________________ built?
  17. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  22. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. squash — the vegetable
  4. field — farmland
  5. pass — to succeed
  6. pass — a permit
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. temple — side of the head
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. march — the month
  13. march — the month
  14. squash — the sport
  15. march — music
  16. temple — a place of worship
  17. squash — to crush
  18. field — a subject
  19. field — for sport
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. root — of a plant
  22. pass — to spend time
  23. root — the cause
  24. root — of a word

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