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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: tear · chair · cell · rash · squash · prune · wound · march

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  15. He was locked up in a ________________.
  16. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  17. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  18. Don't do anything ________________.
  19. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. I'd like to play a game of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. chair — a professorship
  3. rash — a series
  4. wound — an injury
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. chair — to sit on
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. prune — to trim
  9. march — the month
  10. tear — to rip
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wound — an injury
  13. tear — from crying
  14. rash — on the skin
  15. cell — in a prison
  16. squash — to crush
  17. march — the month
  18. rash — hasty
  19. cell — a phone
  20. chair — a leader
  21. march — music
  22. prune — to trim
  23. cell — in biology
  24. squash — the sport

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