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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: deal · root · last · prune · row · band · cold · staff

  1. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  12. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  13. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  14. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — an agreement
  2. last — final
  3. row — a quarrel
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — an illness
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. band — a music group
  8. root — of a plant
  9. last — to go on
  10. band — a ring
  11. staff — a stick
  12. row — to paddle
  13. deal — to handle
  14. deal — a big deal
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. staff — employees
  17. cold — not warm
  18. last — finally
  19. band — a rubber band
  20. staff — employees
  21. root — of a word
  22. prune — to trim
  23. root — the cause
  24. row — a line

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