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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: toast · cold · race · racket · spring · net · date · prune

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  15. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  21. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  22. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  23. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  24. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. net — for catching
  3. racket — for tennis
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. cold — not warm
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. race — a contest
  9. net — in sport
  10. spring — of water
  11. date — the fruit
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. toast — a drink to someone
  15. toast — bread
  16. prune — to trim
  17. race — the arms race
  18. toast — the most admired
  19. race — humankind
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. net — after costs
  22. racket — a loud noise
  23. spring — the season
  24. racket — for tennis

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