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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 · spring · cold · row · cell · band · fork · leaves

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. He was locked up in a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  6. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  7. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  13. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  22. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. spring — the season
  3. cell — in a prison
  4. cold — an illness
  5. band — a ring
  6. leaves — of a tree
  7. leaves — lets stay
  8. band — a music group
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. row — a line
  11. cold — not warm
  12. leaves — to go away
  13. row — a quarrel
  14. fork — in a road
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. row — to paddle
  17. cell — in biology
  18. spring — of water
  19. spring — a coil
  20. prune — to trim
  21. fork — to eat with
  22. cell — a phone
  23. prune — to trim
  24. band — a rubber band

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