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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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Word bank
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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: plane · cold · race · file · mine · prune · mate · sharp

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  6. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ took off on time.
  11. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  23. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  24. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. sharp — with an edge
  3. file — a document
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mine — an explosive
  6. mate — a friend
  7. race — the arms race
  8. race — a contest
  9. mine — for digging
  10. plane — an aircraft
  11. plane — a tool
  12. cold — an illness
  13. mate — a partner
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. prune — to trim
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. mate — to breed
  21. cold — not warm
  22. sharp — clever
  23. race — humankind
  24. file — a line of people

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