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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 116 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. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  3. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  4. When are we going to ________________?
  5. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  15. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — to turn a key
  3. kick — with a leg
  4. land — to come down
  5. kick — a thrill
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. land — a country
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. hand — in cards
  11. land — ground
  12. game — a match
  13. prune — to trim
  14. kick — in football
  15. trunk — of a tree
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. game — wild animals
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. hand — help
  20. pound — a weight
  21. wind — moving air
  22. trunk — of a car
  23. wind — moving air
  24. pound — for dogs

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