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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. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  2. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  10. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  15. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  18. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. Have you settled on a ________________?
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bowl — a dish
  2. track — a path
  3. prune — to trim
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. prune — to trim
  6. kick — in football
  7. tear — from crying
  8. chest — of your body
  9. kick — a thrill
  10. bowl — a football final
  11. bore — to tire
  12. track — to keep track
  13. tear — from crying
  14. bowl — to roll
  15. date — the fruit
  16. chest — of your body
  17. track — a song
  18. bore — gave birth
  19. chest — a box
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. bore — to drill
  23. date — on the calendar
  24. tear — to rip

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