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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. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. David sat on the ________________.
  13. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  16. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  17. When are we going to ________________?
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  22. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  23. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  24. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. fall — the season
  4. scale — in music
  5. fall — to drop
  6. prune — to trim
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. land — ground
  10. land — a country
  11. wind — moving air
  12. swing — to play on
  13. mouse — the animal
  14. swing — in golf
  15. wake — a trail
  16. scale — for weighing
  17. land — to come down
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. swing — music
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wake — to stop sleeping
  22. fall — to drop
  23. mouse — for a computer
  24. scale — size or range

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