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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: race · prune · pop · face · jam · bound · wake · cold

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  15. We're almost out of ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  20. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Tom got himself in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. bound — tied together
  4. prune — to trim
  5. bound — obliged
  6. pop — music
  7. race — a contest
  8. face — to confront
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. race — humankind
  13. face — part of the head
  14. jam — to spread on bread
  15. pop — soda
  16. wake — a trail
  17. jam — in traffic
  18. bound — certain
  19. race — the arms race
  20. face — to point toward
  21. cold — not warm
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. jam — a tight spot

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