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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: arm · spring · lean · cold · squash · season · race · prune

  1. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  8. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  9. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  10. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  11. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  12. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  16. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. My father caught me by the ________________.
  22. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. arm — part of the body
  2. spring — of water
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cold — an illness
  5. season — of the year
  6. lean — to bend
  7. race — humankind
  8. season — in sport
  9. lean — to rest against
  10. spring — a coil
  11. arm — a part of something
  12. squash — the vegetable
  13. race — a contest
  14. prune — to trim
  15. lean — thin
  16. spring — the season
  17. cold — not warm
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. squash — the sport
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. arm — part of the body
  22. squash — to crush
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. race — the arms race

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