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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: prune · mouse · content · cold · rest · band · bore · row

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  6. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  13. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  14. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  19. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. content — the amount
  3. cold — an illness
  4. prune — to trim
  5. rest — a break
  6. mouse — the animal
  7. bore — to drill
  8. content — happy
  9. rest — what's left
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. content — videos and posts
  13. band — a music group
  14. mouse — the animal
  15. row — to paddle
  16. bore — gave birth
  17. rest — what's left
  18. band — a ring
  19. row — a quarrel
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bore — to tire
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. prune — to trim

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