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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: straw · wave · mate · prune · chair · cell · tear · file

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. tear — to rip
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. cell — a phone
  5. mate — to breed
  6. straw — dry grass
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. mate — a partner
  9. chair — a professorship
  10. file — a document
  11. tear — from crying
  12. prune — to trim
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. tear — from crying
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. file — a tool
  17. wave — a sudden rise
  18. file — a line of people
  19. mate — a friend
  20. prune — to trim
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. cell — in biology
  24. chair — a leader

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