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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. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  5. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  8. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  9. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  15. What do you think of the new ________________?
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. shower — a meteor shower
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. fork — to eat with
  5. bat — in an idiom
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. shower — rain
  8. fork — in a road
  9. shower — to wash
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. content — the amount
  12. land — to come down
  13. bat — the animal
  14. content — happy
  15. cabinet — ministers
  16. prune — to trim
  17. kick — in football
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. content — videos and posts
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. kick — with a leg

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