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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  9. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  10. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  13. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  14. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  15. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. prune — to trim
  3. hand — part of the body
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. hand — help
  7. cold — not warm
  8. hand — in cards
  9. wake — to stop sleeping
  10. field — a subject
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. chair — a professorship
  14. ruler — a monarch
  15. coach — pulled by horses
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. chair — a leader
  18. prune — to trim
  19. wake — a trail
  20. cold — an illness
  21. chair — to sit on
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. field — for sport
  24. field — farmland

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