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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: ground · hand · race · pound · prune · saw · ruler · tear

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  3. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  4. She's very handy with a ________________.
  5. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. He works in a ________________ mill.
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  13. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  21. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ruler — a monarch
  3. hand — in cards
  4. saw — the tool
  5. hand — help
  6. prune — to trim
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. ground — the earth
  9. tear — to rip
  10. saw — the tool
  11. race — a contest
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pound — to hit hard
  14. pound — a weight
  15. ruler — for measuring
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. race — the arms race
  18. ground — a position
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ruler — for measuring
  21. race — humankind
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. prune — to trim

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