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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: straw · pass · cold · bark · snap · prune · drill · hide

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  3. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  13. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  14. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  23. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. bark — of a tree
  3. pass — a permit
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. snap — to click
  7. straw — to clutch at straws
  8. cold — not warm
  9. prune — to trim
  10. straw — a straw man
  11. cold — an illness
  12. pass — to spend time
  13. drill — a practice
  14. hide — to keep secret
  15. prune — to trim
  16. hide — to keep secret
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. drill — army training
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. bark — to shout
  22. straw — dry grass
  23. drill — the tool
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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