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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Don't do anything ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  7. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  8. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. prune — to trim
  3. rash — hasty
  4. clip — for paper
  5. kid — to tease
  6. face — to point toward
  7. rash — on the skin
  8. face — to confront
  9. prune — to trim
  10. clip — a video
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. kid — child
  13. face — part of the head
  14. rash — a series
  15. net — after costs
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. net — for catching
  18. net — in sport

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