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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: key · stand · straw · prune · wind · ground · tear · bat

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  5. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  6. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  7. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  17. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  18. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  19. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. This piece is in a major ________________.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. There's no middle ________________.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. prune — to trim
  4. stand — on your feet
  5. key — for a lock
  6. wind — to turn a key
  7. stand — for spectators
  8. bat — the animal
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — to trim
  12. ground — crushed
  13. wind — moving air
  14. tear — from crying
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. tear — from crying
  17. key — the most important part
  18. straw — dry grass
  19. straw — a straw man
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. key — in music
  22. ground — the earth
  23. ground — a position
  24. stand — to bear

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