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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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The tickets are free of ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  5. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  9. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  12. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  15. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. charge — a price
  3. clip — a video
  4. capital — money
  5. mine — belonging to me
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. capital — a city
  9. hand — in cards
  10. clip — for paper
  11. hand — help
  12. charge — electricity
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. capital — a big letter
  15. charge — in control
  16. clip — to cut
  17. prune — to trim
  18. mine — for digging

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