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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 120 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.

Words on the sheet
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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: prune · land · bass · spell · bark · march · wind · tube

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  5. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  14. I'll be taking the ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  17. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  18. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  19. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. march — music
  3. spell — a short time
  4. bark — a dog's sound
  5. bass — the instrument
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. land — to come down
  8. bass — low music
  9. bark — of a tree
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wind — moving air
  13. spell — magic
  14. tube — the underground
  15. march — the month
  16. tube — a container
  17. tube — in a tire
  18. land — ground
  19. bass — the fish
  20. land — a country
  21. prune — to trim
  22. march — the month
  23. bark — to shout
  24. wind — to turn a key

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