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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: craft · content · race · cold · mine · stem · prune · rush

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  17. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. rush — hurry
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. cold — not warm
  5. craft — boats
  6. race — a contest
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. craft — a handicraft
  9. race — humankind
  10. prune — to trim
  11. stem — to come from
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. content — the amount
  14. race — the arms race
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. content — videos and posts
  17. craft — a skill
  18. prune — to trim
  19. cold — an illness
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mine — an explosive
  23. mine — for digging
  24. stem — a stem cell

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