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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. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  4. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  5. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  6. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  18. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  19. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  20. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  21. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  22. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The flowers bloom in the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. prune — to trim
  3. rock — to move gently
  4. rock — music
  5. face — to confront
  6. pitch — a sports field
  7. spring — a coil
  8. last — final
  9. rock — a stone
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. face — part of the head
  12. prune — to trim
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. face — to point toward
  15. last — to go on
  16. game — a match
  17. spring — of water
  18. game — a kind of play
  19. last — finally
  20. mine — an explosive
  21. mine — for digging
  22. pitch — a sales talk
  23. pitch — completely
  24. spring — the season

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