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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. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  3. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  4. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  5. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. He was locked up in a ________________.
  12. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mate — a friend
  3. rock — music
  4. rock — a stone
  5. chest — a box
  6. prune — to trim
  7. last — finally
  8. mate — a partner
  9. chest — of your body
  10. last — to go on
  11. cell — in a prison
  12. branch — of a tree
  13. cell — a phone
  14. chest — of your body
  15. mate — to breed
  16. branch — a division
  17. rock — to move gently
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. last — final
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. cell — in biology
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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