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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 water is too ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I've got to change the light ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. The light ________________ burned out.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  19. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  23. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  24. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. prune — to trim
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. bulb — for light
  5. cold — an illness
  6. object — a thing
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. band — a ring
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. object — to protest
  13. bulb — of a plant
  14. swing — to play on
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. band — a music group
  17. bulb — for light
  18. swing — music
  19. swing — in golf
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. branch — a division
  23. coach — pulled by horses
  24. object — an aim

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