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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 116 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: prune · ground · content · rest · press · perch · craft · cold

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  6. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  7. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  8. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  9. Did you ________________ the button?
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  14. There's no middle ________________.
  15. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  21. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. rest — what's left
  3. craft — a skill
  4. prune — to trim
  5. perch — the fish
  6. press — a publisher
  7. craft — boats
  8. content — videos and posts
  9. press — to push
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. rest — what's left
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. press — newspapers
  14. ground — a position
  15. content — happy
  16. cold — not warm
  17. rest — a break
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. content — the amount
  21. craft — a handicraft
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. cold — an illness
  24. ground — the earth

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