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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: nail · prune · dip · branch · roll · cold · bore · mine

  1. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  5. We're on a ________________ here.
  6. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  9. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. He drove in a ________________ with his hammer.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. She broke her ________________ while washing the dishes.
  20. The ________________ went through the wall.
  21. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  22. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. bore — to tire
  2. mine — for digging
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. roll — a cake
  5. roll — on a roll
  6. branch — of a tree
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. bore — gave birth
  9. roll — a list
  10. cold — an illness
  11. nail — for a hammer
  12. branch — a division
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. bore — to drill
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. prune — to trim
  17. prune — to trim
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. nail — on a finger
  20. nail — for a hammer
  21. dip — a sauce
  22. dip — to sink
  23. cold — not warm
  24. cold — the Cold War

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