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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. I can't ________________ this cold.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  4. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Have you met the new head ________________?
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  14. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. David sat on the ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  19. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  22. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. stand — to bear
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. row — a line
  4. row — to paddle
  5. cold — not warm
  6. coach — a trainer
  7. content — happy
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. wind — moving air
  10. prune — to trim
  11. row — a quarrel
  12. cold — an illness
  13. swing — in golf
  14. content — videos and posts
  15. swing — music
  16. swing — to play on
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. stand — for spectators
  19. wind — moving air
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. coach — a trainer
  22. stand — on your feet
  23. content — the amount
  24. prune — to trim

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