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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  9. It's one o'clock ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. He is an ace ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. dip — to sink
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — not warm
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. dip — to dunk
  9. sharp — exactly
  10. bore — to drill
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. pitcher — in baseball
  13. band — a music group
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. dip — a sauce
  16. bat — the animal
  17. cold — an illness
  18. sharp — clever
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. bore — to tire
  23. bore — gave birth
  24. pitcher — a jug

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