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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 116 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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  10. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  11. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. prune — to trim
  3. saw — the tool
  4. coach — pulled by horses
  5. perch — the fish
  6. patient — a sick person
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. patient — calm and waiting
  10. kid — to tease
  11. perch — for a bird
  12. cold — an illness
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. row — to paddle
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. kid — child
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — to trim
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. row — a line
  23. saw — the tool
  24. patient — a sick person

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