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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. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. That was a fun ________________.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  19. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  20. Did you ________________ the meat?
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  24. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.

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

Answer key

  1. cap — of ice
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. game — a match
  4. tear — from crying
  5. prune — to trim
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. season — of the year
  9. game — wild animals
  10. wake — before a funeral
  11. wake — a trail
  12. race — the arms race
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. game — a kind of play
  15. cap — a hat
  16. prune — to trim
  17. tear — from crying
  18. season — in sport
  19. race — a contest
  20. season — to add flavour
  21. tear — to rip
  22. race — humankind
  23. cap — a lid
  24. snap — to click

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