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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: ground · land · kid · cold · tear · bank · prune · saw

  1. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. He works in a ________________ mill.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. There's no middle ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. bank — of a river
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. saw — the tool
  5. tear — from crying
  6. land — a country
  7. ground — crushed
  8. prune — to trim
  9. ground — a position
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. kid — child
  12. ground — the earth
  13. land — ground
  14. saw — the tool
  15. prune — to trim
  16. kid — to tease
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. bank — for money
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — not warm
  21. land — to come down
  22. tear — to rip
  23. cold — an illness
  24. bank — for money

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