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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: prune · squash · cold · cabinet · spring · tear · arm · deal

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  3. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. What do you think of the new ________________?
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. deal — to handle
  3. spring — the season
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. tear — from crying
  7. spring — of water
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. cabinet — ministers
  11. spring — a coil
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. prune — to trim
  15. squash — to crush
  16. tear — to rip
  17. cold — not warm
  18. deal — a big deal
  19. prune — to trim
  20. squash — the sport
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. cold — an illness
  24. arm — part of the body

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