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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  3. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  6. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  17. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. deal — a big deal
  3. deal — an agreement
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. stem — to come from
  6. deal — to handle
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. capital — a city
  10. rash — a series
  11. rash — hasty
  12. mine — an explosive
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. prune — to trim
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. capital — money
  17. wound — an injury
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. mine — for digging
  20. wound — an injury
  21. capital — a big letter
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. stem — of a plant
  24. prune — the fruit

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