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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: race · march · squash · straw · chair · spring · prune · tear

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  21. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  22. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  23. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. prune — to trim
  3. march — the month
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. march — music
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. race — a contest
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. tear — to rip
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. tear — from crying
  14. spring — the season
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. squash — the sport
  17. tear — from crying
  18. march — the month
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. spring — of water
  21. squash — to crush
  22. race — the arms race
  23. chair — a leader
  24. spring — a coil

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