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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 116 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: straw · prune · cold · pop · cell · rule · mate · rash

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  8. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  9. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  10. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. Have you found your soul ________________?
  13. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  14. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  21. He was locked up in a ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  24. We're almost out of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. pop — to visit
  3. rash — hasty
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. rule — government
  8. straw — dry grass
  9. mate — a friend
  10. mate — to breed
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. mate — a partner
  13. cell — in biology
  14. rule — to rule out
  15. prune — to trim
  16. rash — a series
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cell — a phone
  20. rule — a law
  21. cell — in a prison
  22. cold — an illness
  23. straw — to clutch at straws
  24. pop — soda

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