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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. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  16. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. This piece is in a major ________________.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  22. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. scale — in music
  3. net — in sport
  4. key — for a lock
  5. kid — to tease
  6. racket — for tennis
  7. prune — to trim
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. net — after costs
  11. net — for catching
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. prune — to trim
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. racket — a loud noise
  16. racket — for tennis
  17. cell — a phone
  18. key — in music
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. key — the most important part
  22. scale — size or range
  23. bark — to shout
  24. cell — in biology

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