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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  10. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. That must've been a ________________.
  21. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. march — the month
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. last — finally
  7. cold — not warm
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. march — music
  10. rush — to hurry
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bark — to shout
  13. last — to go on
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. last — final
  17. cold — an illness
  18. hand — in cards
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. rush — a thrill
  21. rush — hurry
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. hand — help
  24. march — the month

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