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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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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: plane · file · prune · cold · ball · fall · tear · game

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. The King held a masked ________________.
  8. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. That was a fun ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  14. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  24. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. tear — from crying
  3. prune — to trim
  4. file — a line of people
  5. game — wild animals
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. ball — a dance
  8. file — a document
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. game — a match
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. tear — to rip
  13. plane — a tool
  14. fall — the season
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. game — a kind of play
  17. file — a tool
  18. fall — to drop
  19. tear — from crying
  20. cold — not warm
  21. ball — a great time
  22. prune — to trim
  23. fall — to drop
  24. plane — in geometry

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