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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: march · fall · drill · club · saw · wind · prune · net

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. She's very handy with a ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  14. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  21. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  22. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  23. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. drill — the tool
  3. prune — to trim
  4. wind — moving air
  5. saw — the tool
  6. club — for dancing
  7. march — the month
  8. fall — to drop
  9. net — for catching
  10. wind — moving air
  11. saw — the tool
  12. prune — to trim
  13. net — after costs
  14. drill — a practice
  15. drill — army training
  16. club — for golf
  17. fall — the season
  18. club — a group
  19. march — music
  20. fall — to drop
  21. march — the month
  22. net — in sport
  23. saw — past of 'see'
  24. wind — to turn a key

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