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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: wind · prune · pit · stick · cold · shower · coach · spring

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. Have you met the new head ________________?
  3. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  13. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  16. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  17. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  18. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. coach — a trainer
  3. stick — a piece of wood
  4. cold — an illness
  5. shower — a meteor shower
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. coach — pulled by horses
  9. prune — to trim
  10. coach — a trainer
  11. shower — rain
  12. pit — a fruit stone
  13. spring — the season
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. pit — in a race
  16. stick — a piece of wood
  17. spring — a coil
  18. spring — of water
  19. prune — to trim
  20. cold — not warm
  21. pit — a hole
  22. stick — to attach or keep to
  23. shower — to wash
  24. wind — moving air

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