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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 · kid · drill · pound · last · prune · spring · kick

  1. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  2. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  13. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. pound — a weight
  2. kick — with a leg
  3. kid — child
  4. spring — the season
  5. drill — army training
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  9. drill — the tool
  10. drill — a practice
  11. prune — to trim
  12. last — finally
  13. kick — a thrill
  14. spring — of water
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. kick — in football
  17. prune — to trim
  18. last — final
  19. last — to go on
  20. kid — to tease
  21. cold — an illness
  22. cold — not warm
  23. spring — a coil
  24. cold — the Cold War

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