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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  3. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The ________________ market has crashed.
  11. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  14. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  15. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. tear — from crying
  3. spring — a coil
  4. prune — to trim
  5. branch — a division
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. spring — of water
  8. tear — from crying
  9. prune — to trim
  10. stock — shares
  11. mate — to breed
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. trunk — of a tree
  14. mate — a friend
  15. trunk — of a car
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. stock — goods
  18. mate — a partner
  19. spring — the season
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. stock — a soup base
  22. cold — not warm
  23. cold — an illness
  24. tear — to rip

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