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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 120 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: stem · chest · race · hide · cold · cue · prune · rest

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  6. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  20. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  23. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  24. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. race — humankind
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. rest — what's left
  5. cue — a signal
  6. hide — to keep secret
  7. chest — of your body
  8. race — the arms race
  9. race — a contest
  10. cue — a hint
  11. cold — an illness
  12. cold — not warm
  13. chest — a box
  14. stem — to come from
  15. prune — to trim
  16. cue — for pool
  17. hide — animal skin
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. rest — a break
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. stem — a stem cell
  23. rest — what's left
  24. chest — of your body

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