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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 116 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: lean · wound · tear · prune · plane · hide · cell · cold

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The ________________ took off on time.
  5. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  6. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  15. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  16. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  19. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  20. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. cell — a phone
  3. prune — to trim
  4. plane — an aircraft
  5. wound — an injury
  6. lean — thin
  7. prune — to trim
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. lean — to bend
  10. tear — from crying
  11. plane — a tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. wound — an injury
  16. cell — in biology
  17. cold — not warm
  18. hide — to keep secret
  19. plane — in geometry
  20. tear — from crying
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. tear — to rip
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. hide — animal skin

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