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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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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: tear · prune · march · spring · bark · kid · last · bear

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  9. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  10. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. False peace will not ________________.
  13. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  14. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bear — the animal
  4. spring — of water
  5. march — the month
  6. tear — to rip
  7. kid — to tease
  8. spring — the season
  9. spring — a coil
  10. bear — the animal
  11. bark — to shout
  12. last — to go on
  13. bark — of a tree
  14. bark — a dog's sound
  15. march — the month
  16. kid — child
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. last — final
  19. bear — to put up with
  20. last — finally
  21. prune — to trim
  22. march — music
  23. tear — from crying
  24. tear — from crying

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