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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: wind · board · chest · cue · spring · tear · prune · rest

  1. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  9. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  10. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  11. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  14. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cue — a hint
  4. rest — what's left
  5. chest — of your body
  6. tear — from crying
  7. prune — to trim
  8. board — a committee
  9. wind — moving air
  10. wind — moving air
  11. spring — a coil
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. board — to get on
  14. rest — what's left
  15. tear — from crying
  16. chest — a box
  17. spring — the season
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. rest — a break
  20. chest — of your body
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. spring — of water
  23. cue — for pool
  24. cue — a signal

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