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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.

Words on the sheet
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: straw · pop · cold · perch · coach · trunk · prune · march

  1. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. Have you met the new head ________________?
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  24. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. march — the month
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. pop — soda
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. perch — the fish
  10. pop — to visit
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. march — the month
  16. trunk — of a tree
  17. cold — not warm
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. perch — for a bird
  20. cold — an illness
  21. prune — to trim
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. trunk — of an elephant
  24. march — music

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