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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. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  2. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  11. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  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. track — a path
  2. track — to keep track
  3. cold — not warm
  4. branch — of a tree
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. last — to go on
  10. bore — to drill
  11. bore — to tire
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. cold — an illness
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. object — a thing
  16. track — a song
  17. object — to protest
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. object — an aim
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. branch — a division
  22. prune — to trim
  23. last — final
  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