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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 120 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: spring · mark · prune · last · saw · cold · field · wake

  1. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  5. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  6. False peace will not ________________.
  7. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  14. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  15. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. He works in a ________________ mill.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — of water
  2. cold — an illness
  3. field — farmland
  4. wake — to stop sleeping
  5. saw — past of 'see'
  6. last — to go on
  7. field — a subject
  8. last — finally
  9. mark — to pay attention
  10. last — final
  11. cold — not warm
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. mark — a grade
  14. spring — a coil
  15. spring — the season
  16. prune — to trim
  17. saw — the tool
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. mark — a trace
  20. wake — a trail
  21. prune — to trim
  22. field — for sport
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. saw — the tool

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