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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 116 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: mate · cold · club · prune · lash · tear · row · season

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. Have you found your soul ________________?
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  15. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  18. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Did you ________________ the meat?
  24. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. cold — an illness
  3. lash — a whip stroke
  4. prune — to trim
  5. club — for golf
  6. club — a group
  7. prune — to trim
  8. club — for dancing
  9. row — to paddle
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. mate — a partner
  12. season — of the year
  13. tear — from crying
  14. lash — to lash out
  15. tear — to rip
  16. cold — not warm
  17. season — in sport
  18. tear — from crying
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. row — a line
  22. mate — a friend
  23. season — to add flavour
  24. mate — to breed

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