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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 pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. This piece is in a major ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. prune — to trim
  3. game — a match
  4. race — a contest
  5. tear — from crying
  6. race — humankind
  7. wake — before a funeral
  8. hand — help
  9. hand — in cards
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. race — the arms race
  14. band — a music group
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. tear — to rip
  17. key — for a lock
  18. key — the most important part
  19. wake — a trail
  20. band — a ring
  21. band — a rubber band
  22. prune — to trim
  23. tear — from crying
  24. key — in music

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