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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: wake · rest · cold · prune · wind · file · spell · rush

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. That must've been a ________________.
  6. How do you ________________ your surname?
  7. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  10. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  13. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  24. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. cold — an illness
  5. rush — a thrill
  6. spell — letters
  7. rest — what's left
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. rush — to hurry
  10. file — a document
  11. file — a tool
  12. rest — a break
  13. wind — to turn a key
  14. spell — magic
  15. file — a line of people
  16. prune — to trim
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. cold — not warm
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. wake — a trail
  22. wind — moving air
  23. rush — hurry
  24. rest — what's left

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