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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 120 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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  9. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  10. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. We're almost out of ________________.
  18. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. capital — a big letter
  6. fork — in a road
  7. last — final
  8. capital — money
  9. fork — a garden tool
  10. scale — size or range
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bat — the animal
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. pop — soda
  18. scale — in music
  19. last — finally
  20. capital — a city
  21. pop — to visit
  22. pound — for dogs
  23. pound — a weight
  24. last — to go on

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