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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: cold · lean · prune · toast · rash · squash · wound · fall

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  9. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. cold — not warm
  3. lean — to bend
  4. fall — to drop
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. wound — an injury
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. rash — on the skin
  9. rash — a series
  10. wound — an injury
  11. fall — to drop
  12. lean — thin
  13. prune — to trim
  14. toast — the most admired
  15. rash — hasty
  16. toast — bread
  17. fall — the season
  18. squash — the sport
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. squash — to crush
  21. prune — to trim
  22. toast — a drink to someone
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. lean — to rest against

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