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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: squash · race · chest · cold · trunk · spell · firm · prune

  1. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  2. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  5. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  8. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. How do you ________________ your surname?
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — to crush
  2. race — a contest
  3. cold — an illness
  4. trunk — of a car
  5. firm — steady
  6. race — humankind
  7. firm — a company
  8. trunk — of an elephant
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. race — the arms race
  11. prune — to trim
  12. spell — letters
  13. chest — of your body
  14. spell — magic
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. spell — a short time
  17. chest — of your body
  18. trunk — of a tree
  19. squash — the sport
  20. prune — to trim
  21. firm — decided
  22. cold — not warm
  23. chest — a box
  24. cold — the Cold War

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