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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: cabinet · cell · stick · bear · cold · prune · rash · file

  1. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  8. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. He was locked up in a ________________.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. What do you think of the new ________________?
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  17. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. bear — to put up with
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. file — a tool
  5. rash — hasty
  6. prune — to trim
  7. stick — a piece of wood
  8. cabinet — a cupboard
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cell — in a prison
  11. cell — a phone
  12. bear — the animal
  13. file — a document
  14. cabinet — ministers
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. cell — in biology
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. rash — a series
  24. file — a line of people

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