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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: kid · prune · roll · jam · rule · land · wind · ground

  1. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. When are we going to ________________?
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  10. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  13. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  19. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  20. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  21. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  22. We're on a ________________ here.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  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. roll — a cake
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. land — to come down
  4. land — a country
  5. jam — to spread on bread
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. roll — a list
  8. land — ground
  9. ground — crushed
  10. ground — the earth
  11. rule — government
  12. rule — a law
  13. kid — child
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. ground — a position
  16. jam — a tight spot
  17. prune — to trim
  18. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  19. wind — moving air
  20. jam — in traffic
  21. kid — to tease
  22. roll — on a roll
  23. wind — moving air
  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