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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. We're on a ________________ here.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  12. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  19. It's one o'clock ________________.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. The ball is in your ________________.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. roll — on a roll
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. roll — a cake
  9. wave — with your hand
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. court — of a king
  12. trunk — of an elephant
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. roll — a list
  15. game — a match
  16. straw — dry grass
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. straw — a straw man
  19. sharp — exactly
  20. court — of law
  21. wave — of the sea
  22. sharp — clever
  23. court — for sport
  24. game — wild animals

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