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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: snap · chest · last · date · rock · cold · prune · plane

  1. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  5. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. Have you settled on a ________________?
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. False peace will not ________________.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The ________________ took off on time.

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

Answer key

  1. rock — music
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. chest — of your body
  4. chest — a box
  5. rock — to move gently
  6. snap — to click
  7. cold — an illness
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. plane — a tool
  10. snap — to snap out of it
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chest — of your body
  13. rock — a stone
  14. date — the fruit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. last — final
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. date — on the calendar
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. last — to go on
  23. last — finally
  24. plane — an aircraft

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