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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: row · fall · wave · prune · bark · cold · wound · race

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  5. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. race — the arms race
  3. bark — to shout
  4. wound — past of 'wind'
  5. row — a line
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. wave — a sudden rise
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. fall — to drop
  11. cold — an illness
  12. fall — to drop
  13. cold — not warm
  14. wave — with your hand
  15. wound — an injury
  16. prune — to trim
  17. wound — an injury
  18. fall — the season
  19. wave — of the sea
  20. prune — to trim
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. race — humankind
  24. row — to paddle

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