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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 120 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. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  2. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  5. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  13. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  17. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  18. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  19. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. root — the cause
  2. game — wild animals
  3. tear — from crying
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. bat — for baseball
  6. tear — from crying
  7. root — of a plant
  8. prune — to trim
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. root — of a word
  11. bat — the animal
  12. fan — a supporter
  13. row — a line
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. row — to paddle
  16. drill — army training
  17. row — a quarrel
  18. fan — to cool the air
  19. drill — a practice
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — to rip
  23. drill — the tool
  24. game — a match

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