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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: swing · court · prune · spring · dip · roll · field · rash

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  5. The ball is in your ________________.
  6. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. We're on a ________________ here.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  17. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.

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

Answer key

  1. roll — a cake
  2. prune — to trim
  3. spring — a coil
  4. dip — to sink
  5. court — for sport
  6. rash — on the skin
  7. roll — a list
  8. roll — on a roll
  9. field — farmland
  10. rash — hasty
  11. spring — the season
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. spring — of water
  14. swing — in golf
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. swing — music
  17. dip — a sauce
  18. field — for sport
  19. field — a subject
  20. court — of law
  21. swing — to play on
  22. rash — a series
  23. prune — to trim
  24. court — of a king

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