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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 116 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 you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  3. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  8. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  9. The ball is in your ________________.
  10. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  17. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  20. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. craft — boats
  3. spell — magic
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. track — to keep track
  6. track — a path
  7. spell — a short time
  8. court — of law
  9. court — for sport
  10. track — a song
  11. hand — in cards
  12. spell — letters
  13. land — ground
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. prune — to trim
  16. craft — a skill
  17. court — of a king
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. land — a country
  20. row — a line
  21. row — to paddle
  22. prune — to trim
  23. hand — part of the body
  24. land — to come down

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