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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 had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  6. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Did you ________________ the meat?
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. He works in a ________________ mill.
  18. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. prune — to trim
  3. row — a line
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. plane — in geometry
  6. wake — to stop sleeping
  7. cold — an illness
  8. season — to add flavour
  9. kid — to tease
  10. prune — to trim
  11. season — of the year
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. saw — the tool
  14. row — to paddle
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. season — in sport
  17. saw — the tool
  18. wake — a trail
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cold — not warm
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — a tool
  24. kid — child

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