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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: prune · bore · game · bay · cold · straw · march · lash

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  5. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  6. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  7. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  8. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  16. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. My mare is ________________ in color.
  24. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. march — music
  3. prune — to trim
  4. march — the month
  5. straw — dry grass
  6. lash — an eyelash
  7. bore — gave birth
  8. bay — a part of the sea
  9. bore — to drill
  10. lash — a whip stroke
  11. cold — an illness
  12. game — a match
  13. game — wild animals
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. lash — to lash out
  16. straw — to clutch at straws
  17. prune — to trim
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cold — not warm
  20. straw — a straw man
  21. march — the month
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. bay — a horse colour
  24. game — a kind of play

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