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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: mine · kid · hand · wind · lash · degree · pit · prune

  1. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  7. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  8. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  17. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — an explosive
  2. hand — in cards
  3. pit — a hole
  4. degree — from a university
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. lash — to lash out
  7. kid — to tease
  8. wind — moving air
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. prune — to trim
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. degree — an amount
  14. kid — child
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. lash — a whip stroke
  17. pit — a fruit stone
  18. mine — for digging
  19. degree — temperature
  20. hand — help
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. wind — moving air
  23. pit — in a race
  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