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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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Word bank
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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 · pitch · dip · chair · bark · prune · cold · pop

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  4. We're almost out of ________________.
  5. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  6. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  7. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. You don't need to ________________ round.
  10. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bark — to shout
  3. dip — to dunk
  4. pop — soda
  5. chair — a leader
  6. dip — a sauce
  7. bark — a dog's sound
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pop — to visit
  10. pop — music
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. cold — an illness
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. prune — to trim
  19. dip — to sink
  20. cold — not warm
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. wind — moving air
  23. pitch — completely
  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