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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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. The ________________ took off on time.
  8. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  12. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  22. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. spell — letters
  3. clip — for paper
  4. spell — a short time
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. spell — magic
  7. plane — an aircraft
  8. race — a contest
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — to trim
  11. root — of a plant
  12. land — ground
  13. clip — to cut
  14. wind — moving air
  15. race — the arms race
  16. race — humankind
  17. plane — a tool
  18. wind — moving air
  19. land — to come down
  20. clip — a video
  21. root — of a word
  22. plane — in geometry
  23. land — a country
  24. root — the cause

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