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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: game · present · prune · fork · firm · lean · wound · cold

  1. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  4. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  8. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  14. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  20. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.

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

Answer key

  1. firm — steady
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wound — past of 'wind'
  4. game — a kind of play
  5. prune — to trim
  6. present — a gift
  7. lean — to rest against
  8. fork — a garden tool
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. game — a match
  13. wound — an injury
  14. firm — decided
  15. game — wild animals
  16. fork — in a road
  17. present — there
  18. firm — a company
  19. lean — thin
  20. present — the time now
  21. cold — not warm
  22. wound — an injury
  23. cold — an illness
  24. lean — to bend

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