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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: last · cold · row · kick · bore · prune · bear · pitcher

  1. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. He is an ace ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  19. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  20. False peace will not ________________.
  21. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. last — final
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. bear — to put up with
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. prune — to trim
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. row — a line
  9. pitcher — in baseball
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. cold — an illness
  14. row — to paddle
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. bear — the animal
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. kick — in football
  19. bore — to tire
  20. last — to go on
  21. bear — the animal
  22. last — finally
  23. cold — not warm
  24. bore — to drill

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