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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: stand · leaves · band · race · prune · cold · court · wave

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  15. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  18. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  23. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. court — of a king
  3. prune — to trim
  4. race — the arms race
  5. race — humankind
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. band — a music group
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. leaves — lets stay
  10. cold — an illness
  11. court — for sport
  12. band — a ring
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. leaves — to go away
  15. band — a rubber band
  16. cold — not warm
  17. wave — with your hand
  18. court — of law
  19. stand — to bear
  20. stand — on your feet
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. stand — for spectators
  23. wave — of the sea
  24. race — a contest

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