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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. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  8. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  18. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  19. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. leaves — of a tree
  5. cold — not warm
  6. kid — to tease
  7. nail — for a hammer
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. nail — on a finger
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. cold — an illness
  13. prune — to trim
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. kid — child
  16. prune — to trim
  17. leaves — to go away
  18. race — the arms race
  19. bark — a dog's sound
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. bark — to shout
  22. race — humankind
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. race — a contest

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