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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: last · prune · squash · clip · court · cabinet · key · wind

  1. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. False peace will not ________________.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. What do you think of the new ________________?
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  13. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. This piece is in a major ________________.
  18. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  19. The ball is in your ________________.
  20. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  23. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. key — the most important part
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. last — to go on
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. cabinet — ministers
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. key — for a lock
  9. last — finally
  10. last — final
  11. prune — to trim
  12. court — of law
  13. wind — moving air
  14. clip — for paper
  15. court — of a king
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. key — in music
  18. clip — a video
  19. court — for sport
  20. cabinet — a cupboard
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. squash — the sport
  23. squash — to crush
  24. clip — to cut

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