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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. That was a fun ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. He was locked up in a ________________.
  8. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The King held a masked ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. game — a match
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. spring — a coil
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. cell — in a prison
  8. arm — part of the body
  9. spring — the season
  10. cold — an illness
  11. cell — a phone
  12. game — wild animals
  13. wound — an injury
  14. spring — of water
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. ball — a dance
  17. cell — in biology
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. prune — to trim
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ball — a great time
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wound — an injury

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