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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: prune · pitch · mug · kid · tear · face · spring · wind

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  16. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  17. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  18. Where did you ________________ them?
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  22. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. spring — of water
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. kid — to tease
  5. tear — from crying
  6. wind — moving air
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. pitch — a sales talk
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. tear — to rip
  11. pitch — a sports field
  12. face — part of the head
  13. wind — moving air
  14. mug — a cup
  15. face — to point toward
  16. mug — a face
  17. face — to confront
  18. mug — to rob
  19. prune — to trim
  20. prune — to trim
  21. tear — from crying
  22. pitch — completely
  23. spring — a coil
  24. kid — child

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