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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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Word bank
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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: season · scale · game · prune · bay · spring · ground · bat

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. There's no middle ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. scale — for weighing
  4. game — wild animals
  5. spring — a coil
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. ground — a position
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bay — a part of the sea
  10. season — in sport
  11. ground — crushed
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. spring — of water
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. scale — size or range
  17. bay — to keep at bay
  18. prune — to trim
  19. season — of the year
  20. spring — the season
  21. scale — in music
  22. game — a match
  23. ground — the earth
  24. bat — the animal

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