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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: kid · prune · file · field · fall · snap · temple · rule

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Your daily life is your ________________ and your religion.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  7. When was this ________________ built?
  8. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  9. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  14. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  21. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  22. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  23. A trickle of blood ran from her ________________ down her cheek.
  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. field — farmland
  2. temple — a place of worship
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. file — a document
  5. fall — to drop
  6. rule — government
  7. temple — a place of worship
  8. kid — to tease
  9. snap — to speak sharply
  10. prune — to trim
  11. fall — the season
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. rule — to rule out
  14. snap — to click
  15. fall — to drop
  16. file — a line of people
  17. file — a tool
  18. field — for sport
  19. prune — to trim
  20. field — a subject
  21. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  22. rule — a law
  23. temple — side of the head
  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