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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: wind · kid · drill · last · cap · rule · prune · land

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  4. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  7. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  8. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  14. False peace will not ________________.
  15. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  16. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  24. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. land — ground
  3. rule — a law
  4. cap — a lid
  5. wind — moving air
  6. cap — of ice
  7. last — finally
  8. drill — a practice
  9. kid — child
  10. wind — to turn a key
  11. last — final
  12. kid — to tease
  13. drill — army training
  14. last — to go on
  15. drill — the tool
  16. rule — to rule out
  17. prune — to trim
  18. wind — moving air
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. rule — government
  24. cap — a hat

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