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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 116 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 · pit · last · squash · mouse · cold · wound · prune

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. False peace will not ________________.
  3. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  16. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  17. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  18. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  23. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  24. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. last — to go on
  3. squash — to crush
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. wind — moving air
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. pit — in a race
  9. cold — an illness
  10. pit — a fruit stone
  11. last — final
  12. prune — to trim
  13. wound — an injury
  14. cold — not warm
  15. mouse — the animal
  16. wound — past of 'wind'
  17. mouse — for a computer
  18. pit — a hole
  19. prune — to trim
  20. last — finally
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wound — an injury
  23. squash — the sport
  24. mouse — the animal

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