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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  21. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  22. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bass — low music
  3. straw — to clutch at straws
  4. hand — in cards
  5. prune — to trim
  6. saw — the tool
  7. bass — the fish
  8. saw — the tool
  9. leaves — to go away
  10. hand — help
  11. bass — the instrument
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. leaves — lets stay
  15. bark — to shout
  16. cell — in biology
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. cell — a phone
  20. straw — dry grass
  21. saw — past of 'see'
  22. bark — of a tree
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. hand — part of the body

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