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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. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  6. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  20. What do you think of the new ________________?
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. march — music
  5. content — videos and posts
  6. sharp — clever
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. clip — a video
  10. clip — for paper
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. prune — to trim
  14. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  15. march — the month
  16. march — the month
  17. kid — to tease
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kid — child
  20. cabinet — ministers
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. clip — to cut
  23. content — the amount
  24. content — happy

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