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

Word bank: kid · wind · pop · mark · arm · file · cold · prune

  1. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  2. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  3. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  4. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  7. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  8. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. My father caught me by the ________________.
  15. You don't need to ________________ round.
  16. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.

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

Answer key

  1. mark — a trace
  2. file — a line of people
  3. file — a tool
  4. kid — child
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. arm — a part of something
  7. cold — the Cold War
  8. mark — a grade
  9. prune — to trim
  10. file — a document
  11. arm — part of the body
  12. wind — moving air
  13. prune — to trim
  14. arm — part of the body
  15. pop — to visit
  16. kid — to tease
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. wind — to turn a key
  19. cold — an illness
  20. pop — music
  21. wind — moving air
  22. pop — soda
  23. cold — not warm
  24. mark — to pay attention

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