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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. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  2. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  16. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  19. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — a phone
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. prune — to trim
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. pitch — completely
  7. land — to come down
  8. roll — a cake
  9. cell — in biology
  10. present — the time now
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. fork — in a road
  14. game — a match
  15. present — there
  16. present — a gift
  17. land — ground
  18. pitch — a sales talk
  19. fork — a garden tool
  20. land — a country
  21. game — wild animals
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. roll — a list

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