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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. She's very handy with a ________________.
  6. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. There's no middle ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  20. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.

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. ground — the earth
  4. cold — not warm
  5. saw — the tool
  6. fan — to cool the air
  7. wind — moving air
  8. craft — boats
  9. net — in sport
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. ground — crushed
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. fan — a supporter
  14. net — for catching
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. prune — to trim
  17. ground — a position
  18. prune — to trim
  19. craft — a handicraft
  20. net — after costs
  21. cold — an illness
  22. craft — a skill
  23. saw — the tool
  24. saw — past of 'see'

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