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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: cold · prune · key · chip · wind · chest · snap · swing

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  9. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  13. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  14. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  15. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  23. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  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. prune — to trim
  2. swing — to play on
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. prune — to trim
  5. key — the most important part
  6. chest — a box
  7. cold — not warm
  8. chip — for betting
  9. chip — to eat
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. chest — of your body
  12. swing — in golf
  13. chip — in a computer
  14. chest — of your body
  15. swing — music
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. key — in music
  18. key — for a lock
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. wind — moving air
  22. snap — to click
  23. snap — to snap out of it
  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