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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 120 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. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  5. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  18. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  19. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. At ________________, we arrived at the village.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. last — final
  3. tear — from crying
  4. patient — calm and waiting
  5. bound — tied together
  6. bass — the fish
  7. root — the cause
  8. bass — low music
  9. tear — to rip
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bound — obliged
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — from crying
  14. root — of a word
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. bass — the instrument
  18. cold — an illness
  19. root — of a plant
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. last — to go on
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. bound — certain
  24. last — finally

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