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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: chair · prune · cold · key · rush · shower · jam · spring

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. That must've been a ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  8. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  9. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  10. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  13. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  14. This piece is in a major ________________.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  18. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. rush — a thrill
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. spring — of water
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. rush — hurry
  7. key — the most important part
  8. rush — to hurry
  9. chair — to sit on
  10. spring — the season
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. shower — to wash
  13. jam — to spread on bread
  14. key — in music
  15. cold — not warm
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. key — for a lock
  18. spring — a coil
  19. prune — to trim
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. cold — an illness
  22. chair — a leader
  23. shower — rain
  24. jam — in traffic

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