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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. False peace will not ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Did you ________________ the meat?
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. Don't do anything ________________.
  12. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  13. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  16. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  19. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. last — to go on
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — not warm
  4. season — to add flavour
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cold — an illness
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. cell — in biology
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. rash — hasty
  12. straw — a straw man
  13. rash — a series
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. rash — on the skin
  16. last — finally
  17. season — in sport
  18. season — of the year
  19. chair — a leader
  20. cell — a phone
  21. last — final
  22. chair — to sit on
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. straw — to clutch at straws

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