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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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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: rock · prune · present · plane · land · drill · cold · wind

  1. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  2. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  16. When are we going to ________________?
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  19. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — an illness
  2. present — the time now
  3. cold — not warm
  4. drill — the tool
  5. drill — army training
  6. prune — to trim
  7. present — there
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. land — ground
  11. land — a country
  12. drill — a practice
  13. rock — a stone
  14. wind — moving air
  15. present — a gift
  16. land — to come down
  17. prune — to trim
  18. rock — music
  19. wind — to turn a key
  20. plane — a tool
  21. plane — in geometry
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. prune — the fruit
  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