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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: prune · plane · wound · cold · wake · swing · game · race

  1. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The ________________ took off on time.
  6. David sat on the ________________.
  7. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  10. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. That was a fun ________________.
  23. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. cold — not warm
  5. plane — an aircraft
  6. swing — to play on
  7. swing — in golf
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. plane — a tool
  10. wound — an injury
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. wound — an injury
  14. prune — to trim
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. wake — a trail
  17. game — wild animals
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. swing — music
  20. race — a contest
  21. cold — an illness
  22. game — a match
  23. wake — before a funeral
  24. race — the arms race

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