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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: cell · cold · perch · stock · tear · prune · race · swing

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The ________________ market has crashed.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  18. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  19. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  22. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. swing — to play on
  3. prune — to trim
  4. stock — shares
  5. cell — in biology
  6. tear — to rip
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. swing — in golf
  10. prune — to trim
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. race — humankind
  15. race — the arms race
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cold — an illness
  18. race — a contest
  19. stock — a soup base
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stock — goods
  22. swing — music
  23. tear — from crying
  24. cell — in a prison

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