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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 120 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: last · cell · prune · bat · bowl · spring · cold · rash

  1. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  2. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. False peace will not ________________.
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  24. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — a series
  2. cell — in biology
  3. spring — of water
  4. rash — hasty
  5. last — final
  6. cell — a phone
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — to trim
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. spring — a coil
  11. cold — an illness
  12. last — finally
  13. last — to go on
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. spring — the season
  17. bat — the animal
  18. bowl — to roll
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. rash — on the skin
  22. cold — not warm
  23. bowl — a dish
  24. bowl — a football final

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