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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: pound · drill · straw · kick · prune · row · wake · branch

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  8. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  14. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  17. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  18. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  19. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  24. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.

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

Answer key

  1. straw — a straw man
  2. straw — to clutch at straws
  3. kick — a thrill
  4. pound — for dogs
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. prune — to trim
  7. kick — in football
  8. row — a line
  9. branch — a division
  10. pound — to hit hard
  11. drill — army training
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pound — a weight
  14. wake — to stop sleeping
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. drill — a practice
  17. kick — with a leg
  18. wake — before a funeral
  19. branch — of a bank
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. drill — the tool
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — dry grass
  24. wake — a trail

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