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

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  17. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. branch — a division
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. rock — music
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. rock — a stone
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. chair — a leader
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. prune — to trim
  16. rest — a break
  17. wind — moving air
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — what's left
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. wind — moving air
  24. prune — the fruit

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