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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He works in a ________________ mill.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  9. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  10. She's very handy with a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  24. I assure you, everything's ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. saw — the tool
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. snap — to click
  7. prune — to trim
  8. fine — a penalty
  9. saw — past of 'see'
  10. saw — the tool
  11. degree — an amount
  12. wind — moving air
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. degree — temperature
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. pound — a weight
  17. degree — from a university
  18. pop — to visit
  19. wind — moving air
  20. pop — music
  21. snap — to speak sharply
  22. pop — soda
  23. fine — high quality
  24. fine — all right

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