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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. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  4. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. David sat on the ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — before a funeral
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. net — in sport
  4. march — music
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. mine — for digging
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. net — after costs
  9. prune — to trim
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. swing — music
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wind — moving air
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. net — for catching
  16. wind — moving air
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — a division
  19. march — the month
  20. wake — a trail
  21. swing — in golf
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. swing — to play on
  24. march — the month

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