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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: mug · pop · wind · spring · firm · rule · branch · row

  1. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  2. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  6. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  7. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  8. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  9. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  10. You don't need to ________________ round.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  13. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  17. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  18. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  23. Where did you ________________ them?
  24. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — the season
  2. row — a quarrel
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. wind — moving air
  5. rule — government
  6. firm — a company
  7. branch — of a tree
  8. spring — of water
  9. firm — steady
  10. pop — to visit
  11. wind — moving air
  12. branch — a division
  13. pop — music
  14. mug — a cup
  15. mug — a face
  16. branch — of a bank
  17. firm — decided
  18. row — a line
  19. pop — soda
  20. spring — a coil
  21. rule — a law
  22. rule — to rule out
  23. mug — to rob
  24. row — to paddle

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