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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  24. This looks like a gunshot ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. prune — to trim
  3. chair — a leader
  4. wound — an injury
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. chair — a professorship
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. march — the month
  9. root — of a word
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. plane — a tool
  12. root — the cause
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. stand — for spectators
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. root — of a plant
  19. march — the month
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. cold — not warm
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. march — music
  24. wound — an injury

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