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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: kick · prune · sharp · cold · band · firm · hand · present

  1. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  5. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  12. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  22. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  23. It's one o'clock ________________.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. present — a gift
  2. hand — in cards
  3. hand — help
  4. band — a music group
  5. kick — with a leg
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. kick — a thrill
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. firm — steady
  12. firm — a company
  13. present — there
  14. sharp — clever
  15. kick — in football
  16. firm — decided
  17. cold — not warm
  18. present — the time now
  19. sharp — with an edge
  20. cold — an illness
  21. band — a ring
  22. band — a rubber band
  23. sharp — exactly
  24. cold — the Cold War

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