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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. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  5. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  8. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. We're almost out of ________________.
  14. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  15. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  22. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. land — to come down
  4. pop — music
  5. spring — of water
  6. prune — to trim
  7. can — a tin
  8. spring — a coil
  9. land — ground
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pop — soda
  14. leaves — of a tree
  15. can — a tin
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. leaves — lets stay
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. row — a line
  20. land — a country
  21. row — to paddle
  22. can — to be able to
  23. spring — the season
  24. prune — the fruit

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