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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  3. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  4. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  5. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  15. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. fine — all right
  3. fine — a penalty
  4. band — a ring
  5. net — after costs
  6. net — in sport
  7. rash — hasty
  8. net — for catching
  9. last — to go on
  10. prune — to trim
  11. hand — help
  12. rash — a series
  13. band — a music group
  14. hand — in cards
  15. fine — high quality
  16. squash — the sport
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. last — finally
  19. last — final
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. squash — to crush
  24. band — a rubber band

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