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

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. That must've been a ________________.
  4. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Don't do anything ________________.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  11. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  20. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  23. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  24. He had ________________ pain while walking.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. prune — to trim
  3. rush — a thrill
  4. craft — a skill
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. file — a line of people
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. rash — hasty
  9. file — a document
  10. craft — a handicraft
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wind — moving air
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. calf — a young animal
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rash — a series
  18. cold — not warm
  19. file — a tool
  20. craft — boats
  21. wind — moving air
  22. cold — the Cold War
  23. rush — to hurry
  24. calf — of the leg

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