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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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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: ruler · fan · pound · content · row · hand · cold · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  7. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  8. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  11. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  12. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  13. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  19. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  20. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  21. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  22. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ruler — for measuring
  7. row — to paddle
  8. hand — help
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. fan — a supporter
  11. pound — to hit hard
  12. pound — a weight
  13. hand — part of the body
  14. content — the amount
  15. ruler — a monarch
  16. cold — an illness
  17. hand — in cards
  18. ruler — for measuring
  19. content — happy
  20. fan — a supporter
  21. row — a quarrel
  22. row — a line
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. content — videos and posts

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