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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. My father caught me by the ________________.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  15. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  16. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  17. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The light ________________ burned out.
  24. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. wound — an injury
  6. last — finally
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. last — to go on
  10. prune — to trim
  11. kid — to tease
  12. wound — an injury
  13. hand — in cards
  14. straw — dry grass
  15. straw — a straw man
  16. arm — a part of something
  17. bulb — of a plant
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. hand — help
  20. arm — part of the body
  21. bulb — for light
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. bulb — for light
  24. last — final

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