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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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Word bank
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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: rule · bark · prune · chest · march · bulb · cold · roll

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  19. We're on a ________________ here.
  20. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  21. The light ________________ burned out.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  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. bark — of a tree
  2. march — the month
  3. rule — a law
  4. cold — not warm
  5. roll — a cake
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. chest — of your body
  8. rule — to rule out
  9. chest — a box
  10. march — music
  11. bulb — for light
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. roll — a list
  14. bark — to shout
  15. prune — to trim
  16. march — the month
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. chest — of your body
  19. roll — on a roll
  20. rule — government
  21. bulb — for light
  22. cold — an illness
  23. bulb — of a plant
  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