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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  4. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. prune — to trim
  3. rule — government
  4. rule — a law
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. spell — letters
  7. wake — a trail
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. branch — of a bank
  10. branch — a division
  11. spring — of water
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. spring — the season
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. spell — a short time
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. rule — to rule out
  20. prune — to trim
  21. spring — a coil
  22. fork — in a road
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. bat — the animal

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