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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: hide · clip · prune · wind · deal · snap · stock · last

  1. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. The ________________ market has crashed.
  7. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  18. False peace will not ________________.
  19. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. deal — a big deal
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. clip — to cut
  5. last — final
  6. stock — shares
  7. wind — moving air
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. prune — to trim
  10. snap — to click
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. deal — an agreement
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. clip — a video
  15. hide — to keep secret
  16. clip — for paper
  17. stock — a soup base
  18. last — to go on
  19. hide — to keep secret
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. deal — to handle
  22. stock — goods
  23. last — finally
  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