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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: arm · spring · prune · face · tear · racket · kid · dip

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  5. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  10. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  15. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  16. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  19. My father caught me by the ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. dip — to dunk
  3. prune — to trim
  4. face — to confront
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. tear — to rip
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. racket — a loud noise
  10. face — part of the head
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. kid — child
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. face — to point toward
  15. racket — for tennis
  16. spring — a coil
  17. spring — the season
  18. tear — from crying
  19. arm — part of the body
  20. kid — to tease
  21. prune — to trim
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. dip — to sink
  24. spring — of water

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