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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: rash · ruler · chest · ball · hand · wind · prune · content

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  7. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. Don't do anything ________________.
  11. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  15. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. The King held a masked ________________.
  18. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  19. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  20. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  21. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  22. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  23. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. rash — a series
  4. ball — a great time
  5. prune — to trim
  6. hand — help
  7. wind — moving air
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. rash — hasty
  11. rash — on the skin
  12. hand — in cards
  13. chest — of your body
  14. ruler — for measuring
  15. content — the amount
  16. prune — to trim
  17. ball — a dance
  18. content — happy
  19. chest — of your body
  20. ball — a round shape
  21. ruler — a monarch
  22. ruler — for measuring
  23. chest — a box
  24. hand — part of the body

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