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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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Word bank
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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: tear · lie · cold · rush · last · prune · ground · march

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. There's no middle ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. That must've been a ________________.
  16. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. march — the month
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. ground — the earth
  5. last — final
  6. tear — from crying
  7. ground — crushed
  8. tear — to rip
  9. rush — hurry
  10. lie — an untruth
  11. tear — from crying
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. ground — a position
  14. prune — to trim
  15. rush — a thrill
  16. lie — an untruth
  17. last — to go on
  18. last — finally
  19. lie — to recline
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. march — music
  22. cold — an illness
  23. march — the month
  24. cold — not warm

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