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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: prune · roll · last · kid · scale · can · saw · bat

  1. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. She's very handy with a ________________.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  13. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  22. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  23. We're on a ________________ here.
  24. ________________ you help me carry this box?

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

Answer key

  1. scale — size or range
  2. last — final
  3. kid — child
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. kid — to tease
  6. bat — the animal
  7. roll — a list
  8. saw — the tool
  9. saw — the tool
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. can — a tin
  13. can — a tin
  14. last — finally
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. last — to go on
  20. prune — to trim
  21. scale — in music
  22. roll — a cake
  23. roll — on a roll
  24. can — to be able to

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