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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  8. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. lash — to lash out
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. present — a gift
  5. wake — a trail
  6. prune — to trim
  7. lash — an eyelash
  8. game — wild animals
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. stick — to attach or keep to
  13. present — there
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. field — a subject
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. field — for sport
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. stick — a piece of wood
  20. bat — the animal
  21. field — farmland
  22. game — a match
  23. present — the time now
  24. wake — before a funeral

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