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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. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  8. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  9. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  10. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  14. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  15. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  24. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chair — to sit on
  2. prune — to trim
  3. lash — to lash out
  4. chair — a leader
  5. key — the most important part
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bark — to shout
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. perch — for a bird
  10. key — for a lock
  11. net — for catching
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. bark — a dog's sound
  14. bark — of a tree
  15. chair — a professorship
  16. key — in music
  17. perch — the fish
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. net — after costs
  21. lash — a whip stroke
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. lash — an eyelash
  24. net — in sport

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