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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  5. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  9. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  10. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  17. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  18. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  22. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  23. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  24. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spring — the season
  3. wind — moving air
  4. wind — to turn a key
  5. stem — a stem cell
  6. file — a document
  7. wind — moving air
  8. cap — a hat
  9. squash — the sport
  10. cap — a lid
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bank — for money
  13. squash — to crush
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. stem — to come from
  16. stem — of a plant
  17. bank — for money
  18. cap — of ice
  19. spring — of water
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. file — a line of people
  22. file — a tool
  23. bank — of a river
  24. spring — a coil

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