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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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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: spring · lash · branch · prune · squash · race · cold · stem

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  4. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  5. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  8. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  9. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  10. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  20. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. spring — of water
  4. race — a contest
  5. lash — to lash out
  6. race — humankind
  7. squash — to crush
  8. stem — a stem cell
  9. squash — the vegetable
  10. race — the arms race
  11. spring — the season
  12. prune — to trim
  13. squash — the sport
  14. cold — an illness
  15. prune — to trim
  16. lash — an eyelash
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. stem — to come from
  19. branch — a division
  20. branch — of a bank
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. lash — a whip stroke
  24. cold — not warm

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