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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: wind · fall · row · board · prune · mark · straw · wound

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  6. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  18. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  24. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wind — moving air
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. mark — a grade
  6. board — a committee
  7. fall — to drop
  8. fall — to drop
  9. mark — a trace
  10. wind — moving air
  11. wound — an injury
  12. board — a flat piece
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. wind — to turn a key
  15. prune — to trim
  16. row — a line
  17. mark — to pay attention
  18. fall — the season
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. row — a quarrel
  21. wound — an injury
  22. row — to paddle
  23. straw — a straw man
  24. straw — dry grass

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