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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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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: cold · fork · wake · wound · pitcher · bear · prune · lie

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  7. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  10. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  11. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. prune — to trim
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. wound — past of 'wind'
  7. lie — an untruth
  8. wound — an injury
  9. wake — a trail
  10. fork — a garden tool
  11. bear — the animal
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. fork — in a road
  14. prune — to trim
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. bear — the animal
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wake — to stop sleeping
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. bear — to put up with
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. lie — to recline
  24. lie — an untruth

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