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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: chair · club · spring · lash · prune · tear · mark · content

  1. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  2. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  3. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  6. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  7. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  10. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  18. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  19. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. club — for golf
  2. mark — to pay attention
  3. content — happy
  4. prune — to trim
  5. lash — an eyelash
  6. spring — the season
  7. chair — a professorship
  8. content — the amount
  9. lash — to lash out
  10. mark — a trace
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chair — a leader
  13. tear — from crying
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. spring — of water
  16. tear — to rip
  17. club — for dancing
  18. lash — a whip stroke
  19. mark — a grade
  20. club — a group
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. tear — from crying
  24. spring — a coil

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