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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. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  3. He works in a ________________ mill.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  15. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. David sat on the ________________.
  22. She's very handy with a ________________.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. He keeps ________________ of his days.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. fork — to eat with
  3. saw — the tool
  4. shower — to wash
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. cap — a lid
  7. prune — to trim
  8. wind — moving air
  9. cap — a hat
  10. wind — moving air
  11. swing — music
  12. fork — in a road
  13. track — a song
  14. fork — a garden tool
  15. shower — rain
  16. track — a path
  17. swing — in golf
  18. cap — of ice
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. swing — to play on
  22. saw — the tool
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. track — to keep track

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