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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. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The ________________ went through the wall.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  7. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  8. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  9. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  13. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  14. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  19. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. nail — for a hammer
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. nail — for a hammer
  7. chest — of your body
  8. field — farmland
  9. key — for a lock
  10. key — the most important part
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. nail — on a finger
  13. chest — of your body
  14. tear — to rip
  15. tear — from crying
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. field — a subject
  18. jam — in traffic
  19. field — for sport
  20. key — in music
  21. chest — a box
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bat — in an idiom
  24. bat — the animal

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