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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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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: spring · prune · race · wind · drill · hide · saw · pitch

  1. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  2. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  8. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. She's very handy with a ________________.
  14. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. He works in a ________________ mill.
  17. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  21. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  22. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  23. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. race — a contest
  2. pitch — a sales talk
  3. prune — to trim
  4. spring — the season
  5. race — humankind
  6. wind — moving air
  7. pitch — a sports field
  8. wind — to turn a key
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. race — the arms race
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. saw — the tool
  14. drill — the tool
  15. spring — a coil
  16. saw — the tool
  17. pitch — completely
  18. prune — to trim
  19. drill — army training
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. spring — of water
  22. wind — moving air
  23. hide — animal skin
  24. drill — a practice

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