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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: kid · court · tear · fall · sharp · rest · wake · prune

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  3. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  6. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. fall — the season
  3. sharp — clever
  4. fall — to drop
  5. wake — a trail
  6. rest — a break
  7. court — of law
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. sharp — with an edge
  10. rest — what's left
  11. rest — what's left
  12. prune — to trim
  13. kid — to tease
  14. kid — child
  15. fall — to drop
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. tear — from crying
  18. prune — to trim
  19. court — for sport
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. court — of a king
  22. tear — to rip
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. wake — before a funeral

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