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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. What do you think of the new ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  18. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. branch — a division
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. cabinet — ministers
  5. file — a line of people
  6. wind — moving air
  7. tear — from crying
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. tear — to rip
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cold — not warm
  13. tear — from crying
  14. file — a document
  15. cabinet — a cupboard
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. branch — of a bank
  18. branch — of a tree
  19. wound — an injury
  20. file — a tool
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cold — an illness
  23. wound — an injury
  24. wind — to turn a key

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