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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. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  9. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  20. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  21. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — to put up with
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. wind — moving air
  4. cold — not warm
  5. bear — the animal
  6. stick — a piece of wood
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wound — an injury
  9. stick — to attach or keep to
  10. snap — to click
  11. net — in sport
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. prune — to trim
  14. stick — a piece of wood
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. net — after costs
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. prune — to trim
  19. snap — to speak sharply
  20. wind — to turn a key
  21. net — for catching
  22. wound — an injury
  23. bear — the animal
  24. wind — moving air

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