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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. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  2. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  3. How do you ________________ your surname?
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. That must've been a ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. The ________________ went through the wall.
  22. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. nail — on a finger
  2. pass — to succeed
  3. spell — letters
  4. ground — a position
  5. ground — crushed
  6. cold — an illness
  7. court — for sport
  8. cold — not warm
  9. pass — a permit
  10. prune — to trim
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. rush — a thrill
  13. prune — to trim
  14. ground — the earth
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. court — of law
  18. court — of a king
  19. rush — to hurry
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. nail — for a hammer
  22. rush — hurry
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — magic

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