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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: tear · bound · file · cold · stem · rash · prune · field

  1. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  8. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  12. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  13. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  14. That was ________________ to happen.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Don't do anything ________________.
  18. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

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

Answer key

  1. bound — tied together
  2. prune — to trim
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. bound — obliged
  5. cold — an illness
  6. field — farmland
  7. field — for sport
  8. cold — the Cold War
  9. file — a document
  10. prune — to trim
  11. rash — a series
  12. file — a line of people
  13. field — a subject
  14. bound — certain
  15. stem — to come from
  16. file — a tool
  17. rash — hasty
  18. stem — a stem cell
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rash — on the skin
  21. tear — from crying
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. cold — not warm
  24. tear — to rip

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