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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: key · cold · tear · jam · staff · prune · file · sharp

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  3. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  4. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. This piece is in a major ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. It's one o'clock ________________.
  12. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  13. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. key — for a lock
  3. tear — from crying
  4. jam — to spread on bread
  5. sharp — clever
  6. prune — to trim
  7. key — in music
  8. file — a line of people
  9. prune — to trim
  10. cold — not warm
  11. sharp — exactly
  12. jam — a tight spot
  13. staff — employees
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. cold — an illness
  16. staff — employees
  17. file — a tool
  18. staff — a stick
  19. tear — to rip
  20. key — the most important part
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. file — a document
  24. jam — in traffic

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