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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 116 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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Word bank
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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 · pop · ground · dip · spring · drill · tear · mine

  1. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  11. We're almost out of ________________.
  12. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  21. You don't need to ________________ round.
  22. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. tear — to rip
  4. prune — to trim
  5. drill — army training
  6. ground — a position
  7. dip — to dunk
  8. ground — crushed
  9. spring — the season
  10. dip — a sauce
  11. pop — soda
  12. dip — to sink
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. drill — a practice
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. prune — to trim
  17. drill — the tool
  18. pop — music
  19. tear — from crying
  20. ground — the earth
  21. pop — to visit
  22. spring — a coil
  23. mine — for digging
  24. spring — of water

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