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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. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  12. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. The ________________ market has crashed.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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. file — a line of people
  4. content — happy
  5. prune — to trim
  6. scale — size or range
  7. march — the month
  8. scale — for weighing
  9. stock — goods
  10. file — a document
  11. bass — the fish
  12. file — a tool
  13. branch — a division
  14. march — music
  15. scale — in music
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. stock — shares
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. bass — the instrument
  23. content — the amount
  24. march — the month

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