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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  5. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  10. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  11. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. present — the time now
  3. prune — to trim
  4. spring — of water
  5. fan — a supporter
  6. drill — army training
  7. fan — a supporter
  8. ground — a position
  9. ground — the earth
  10. present — there
  11. drill — a practice
  12. prune — to trim
  13. clip — for paper
  14. present — a gift
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. wind — moving air
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. drill — the tool
  19. ground — crushed
  20. spring — a coil
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. spring — the season
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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