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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 116 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: swing · lash · land · cold · prune · bark · nail · march

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  3. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  4. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  5. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  9. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  12. The ________________ went through the wall.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  20. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  21. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  22. David sat on the ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. lash — a whip stroke
  3. bark — to shout
  4. march — the month
  5. march — the month
  6. march — music
  7. swing — music
  8. land — a country
  9. lash — an eyelash
  10. land — to come down
  11. bark — of a tree
  12. nail — for a hammer
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. cold — an illness
  17. prune — to trim
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. nail — for a hammer
  20. swing — in golf
  21. bark — a dog's sound
  22. swing — to play on
  23. cold — not warm
  24. nail — on a finger

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