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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.

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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 · present · hide · prune · cold · clip · cell · bound

  1. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He was locked up in a ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  17. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  18. That was ________________ to happen.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  21. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  22. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — to turn a key
  2. clip — for paper
  3. present — the time now
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. present — a gift
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cell — a phone
  8. cold — an illness
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. cold — not warm
  11. clip — to cut
  12. cell — in a prison
  13. prune — to trim
  14. cell — in biology
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. wind — moving air
  17. bound — obliged
  18. bound — certain
  19. clip — a video
  20. bound — tied together
  21. hide — animal skin
  22. present — there
  23. cold — the Cold War
  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