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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I can't ________________ this cold.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mug — a cup
  3. mug — a face
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. chair — a professorship
  6. cold — not warm
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. mug — to rob
  12. game — wild animals
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. perch — the fish
  15. bat — the animal
  16. stand — on your feet
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. chair — a leader
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. stand — to bear
  24. game — a match

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