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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: prune · tear · straw · race · pit · bat · spell · wind

  1. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  4. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  7. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  12. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  18. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  21. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  22. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. wind — moving air
  2. tear — from crying
  3. bat — for baseball
  4. straw — a straw man
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. tear — from crying
  7. bat — the animal
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. race — a contest
  10. spell — letters
  11. straw — to clutch at straws
  12. wind — moving air
  13. prune — to trim
  14. race — the arms race
  15. straw — dry grass
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. spell — magic
  18. pit — in a race
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. tear — to rip
  21. pit — a hole
  22. race — humankind
  23. spell — a short time
  24. prune — to trim

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