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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: pound · prune · cold · kid · wave · lean · ruler · roll

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  7. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  8. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  9. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  10. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  11. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  12. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  13. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  14. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. We're on a ________________ here.
  19. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  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. cold — an illness
  2. kid — to tease
  3. wave — of the sea
  4. prune — to trim
  5. roll — a cake
  6. lean — to bend
  7. ruler — for measuring
  8. wave — with your hand
  9. lean — thin
  10. kid — child
  11. roll — a list
  12. lean — to rest against
  13. pound — for dogs
  14. wave — a sudden rise
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. ruler — for measuring
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. roll — on a roll
  19. ruler — a monarch
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. cold — not warm
  23. pound — a weight
  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