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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. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  2. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  9. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  10. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  11. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — the animal
  2. deal — an agreement
  3. prune — to trim
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. content — the amount
  6. chest — of your body
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. jam — in traffic
  9. jam — to spread on bread
  10. jam — a tight spot
  11. chest — of your body
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. bat — in an idiom
  14. tear — to rip
  15. wound — an injury
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. deal — to handle
  18. chest — a box
  19. content — happy
  20. deal — a big deal
  21. wound — an injury
  22. tear — from crying
  23. tear — from crying
  24. prune — to trim

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