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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · rule · prune · cold · swing · bank

  1. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  4. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. David sat on the ________________.
  15. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  16. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. rule — a law
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bank — of a river
  4. bank — for money
  5. prune — to trim
  6. swing — in golf
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rule — government
  9. cold — not warm
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. chest — a box
  13. chest — of your body
  14. swing — to play on
  15. rule — to rule out
  16. bank — for money
  17. cold — an illness
  18. swing — music

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