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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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Word bank
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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: wake · prune · field · bore · cold · cabinet · last · mine

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  3. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  24. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. bore — to drill
  3. field — a subject
  4. cold — an illness
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — for digging
  9. last — to go on
  10. field — for sport
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wake — a trail
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. field — farmland
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. last — final
  21. wake — before a funeral
  22. last — finally
  23. cabinet — ministers
  24. bore — to tire

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