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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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468
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: bark · snap · prune · cold · bore · saw · bear · pitcher

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  20. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. bore — to tire
  3. prune — to trim
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. cold — not warm
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. bear — the animal
  9. bore — to drill
  10. snap — to click
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bark — to shout
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. bear — the animal
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bore — gave birth
  20. bark — a dog's sound
  21. prune — to trim
  22. bear — to put up with
  23. saw — the tool
  24. snap — to speak sharply

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