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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  6. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. Have you settled on a ________________?
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  14. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  15. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  22. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  23. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  24. She had a strange look on her ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. spell — magic
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. foot — part of the body
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. date — on the calendar
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. wind — moving air
  11. face — to point toward
  12. spell — letters
  13. date — the fruit
  14. date — on the calendar
  15. foot — a measure
  16. spell — a short time
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wind — moving air
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. foot — the bottom
  22. kid — to tease
  23. face — to confront
  24. face — part of the head

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