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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  9. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. cold — an illness
  3. rest — a break
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. tear — from crying
  6. rest — what's left
  7. cold — not warm
  8. snap — to speak sharply
  9. bear — the animal
  10. bear — the animal
  11. root — the cause
  12. prune — to trim
  13. snap — to click
  14. tear — from crying
  15. root — of a word
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. tear — to rip
  18. root — of a plant
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. rest — what's left
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. cell — in biology
  24. cell — a phone

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