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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. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  10. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  11. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  16. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. fan — a supporter
  2. prune — to trim
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. spring — of water
  5. fan — to cool the air
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. race — a contest
  9. craft — a skill
  10. craft — boats
  11. present — the time now
  12. band — a ring
  13. band — a music group
  14. present — a gift
  15. scale — for weighing
  16. craft — a handicraft
  17. present — there
  18. spring — the season
  19. race — the arms race
  20. race — humankind
  21. scale — in music
  22. spring — a coil
  23. scale — size or range
  24. prune — to trim

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