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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: wind · bowl · prune · cold · chest · chair · clip · firm

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  4. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  12. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  21. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  24. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. clip — to cut
  3. bowl — a football final
  4. wind — moving air
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — a video
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chest — of your body
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. prune — to trim
  11. bowl — a dish
  12. firm — steady
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cold — an illness
  15. chair — a leader
  16. wind — moving air
  17. chest — of your body
  18. chest — a box
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. firm — decided
  21. firm — a company
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. bowl — to roll
  24. chair — a professorship

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