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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: suit · cold · bark · prune · hand · wound · rock · kid

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  8. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  12. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  18. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  19. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  20. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  21. When will it ________________ you to start?
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. wound — an injury
  3. prune — to trim
  4. kid — to tease
  5. rock — a stone
  6. hand — help
  7. hand — in cards
  8. suit — in cards
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. wound — past of 'wind'
  12. rock — music
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. wound — an injury
  17. kid — child
  18. rock — to move gently
  19. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  20. bark — to shout
  21. suit — to fit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. suit — clothes
  24. cold — not warm

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