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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 120 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. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  5. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  10. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. deal — to handle
  4. straw — dry grass
  5. deal — an agreement
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. bark — to shout
  10. straw — to clutch at straws
  11. cap — a hat
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. cap — of ice
  16. cap — a lid
  17. field — farmland
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. field — a subject
  20. prune — to trim
  21. deal — a big deal
  22. field — for sport
  23. wound — an injury
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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