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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. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  5. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  12. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  20. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. present — the time now
  3. land — a country
  4. row — a line
  5. present — there
  6. land — to come down
  7. present — a gift
  8. land — ground
  9. track — to keep track
  10. prune — to trim
  11. jam — in traffic
  12. track — a song
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. net — after costs
  16. net — for catching
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. track — a path
  20. wind — moving air
  21. wind — moving air
  22. row — to paddle
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. net — in sport

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