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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: prune · kid · fan · squash · wind · rule · root · mate

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  3. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  12. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  15. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  18. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  19. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  20. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  21. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  22. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. squash — the sport
  3. fan — a supporter
  4. mate — to breed
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. root — the cause
  8. mate — a partner
  9. fan — a supporter
  10. wind — moving air
  11. mate — a friend
  12. squash — to crush
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. wind — moving air
  15. kid — child
  16. prune — to trim
  17. rule — a law
  18. squash — the vegetable
  19. fan — to cool the air
  20. root — of a word
  21. rule — government
  22. root — of a plant
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. prune — to trim

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