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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 from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: wind · mate · kick · cold · ruler · prune

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  4. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  5. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  9. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  10. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  11. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. mate — a partner
  3. ruler — a monarch
  4. kick — in football
  5. ruler — for measuring
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cold — an illness
  8. mate — a friend
  9. mate — to breed
  10. kick — a thrill
  11. kick — with a leg
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — not warm
  15. prune — to trim
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. cold — the Cold War

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