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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: bark · cold · pound · rule · lean · spring · cell · prune

  1. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  17. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  18. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — to hit hard
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. cold — an illness
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. cold — not warm
  8. spring — the season
  9. lean — to bend
  10. rule — to rule out
  11. pound — a weight
  12. spring — a coil
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. rule — government
  17. bark — a dog's sound
  18. bark — to shout
  19. lean — thin
  20. cell — a phone
  21. rule — a law
  22. spring — of water
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. cell — in biology

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