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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. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  7. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  11. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  12. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. My mare is ________________ in color.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. We're on a ________________ here.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  23. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. content — videos and posts
  3. squash — to crush
  4. swing — to play on
  5. prune — to trim
  6. roll — a cake
  7. squash — the sport
  8. spring — of water
  9. prune — to trim
  10. swing — in golf
  11. bay — to keep at bay
  12. bay — a part of the sea
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. spring — the season
  15. spring — a coil
  16. bay — a horse colour
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. content — happy
  19. content — the amount
  20. roll — on a roll
  21. fork — in a road
  22. roll — a list
  23. squash — the vegetable
  24. swing — music

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