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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 124 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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: safe · prune · squash · toast · cap · wound · land · tear

  1. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  2. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  12. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  13. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  17. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. safe — a strongbox
  2. safe — out of danger
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. land — to come down
  5. squash — to crush
  6. toast — the most admired
  7. prune — to trim
  8. tear — from crying
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. squash — the sport
  11. cap — a hat
  12. safe — out of danger
  13. cap — of ice
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. toast — bread
  16. cap — a lid
  17. tear — from crying
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. prune — to trim
  21. land — a country
  22. land — ground
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. tear — to rip

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