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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: wind · rock · prune · cold · straw · clip · lie · leaves

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  6. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  9. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. cold — not warm
  3. clip — a video
  4. prune — to trim
  5. lie — to recline
  6. leaves — lets stay
  7. cold — an illness
  8. leaves — of a tree
  9. straw — to clutch at straws
  10. wind — moving air
  11. leaves — to go away
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. clip — for paper
  14. lie — an untruth
  15. prune — to trim
  16. rock — to move gently
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. rock — a stone
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. rock — music
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. wind — moving air
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. clip — to cut

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