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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. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  6. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  7. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — a loud noise
  2. prune — to trim
  3. last — finally
  4. rule — government
  5. field — a subject
  6. mine — an explosive
  7. racket — for tennis
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. last — final
  10. prune — to trim
  11. field — farmland
  12. file — a tool
  13. present — a gift
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. mine — for digging
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. present — there
  18. field — for sport
  19. present — the time now
  20. rule — a law
  21. racket — for tennis
  22. file — a document
  23. last — to go on
  24. file — a line of people

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