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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: coach · fan · cold · season · game · band · prune · trunk

  1. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  9. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  10. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  13. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  14. That was a fun ________________.
  15. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. Have you met the new head ________________?
  20. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  21. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  22. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  23. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. band — a rubber band
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. fan — a supporter
  5. cold — an illness
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. trunk — of a tree
  9. game — wild animals
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. cold — not warm
  12. coach — pulled by horses
  13. game — a kind of play
  14. game — a match
  15. season — of the year
  16. season — in sport
  17. trunk — of a car
  18. band — a music group
  19. coach — a trainer
  20. band — a ring
  21. trunk — of an elephant
  22. coach — a trainer
  23. fan — to cool the air
  24. prune — to trim

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