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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 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. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  4. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  5. It's one o'clock ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  13. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. The ________________ took off on time.
  16. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  17. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  18. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  19. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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. current — happening now
  4. plane — in geometry
  5. sharp — exactly
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. cold — an illness
  8. clip — for paper
  9. clip — a video
  10. cold — the Cold War
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. current — electric
  13. deal — a big deal
  14. current — of water
  15. plane — an aircraft
  16. sharp — clever
  17. plane — a tool
  18. last — final
  19. deal — to handle
  20. cold — not warm
  21. last — to go on
  22. last — finally
  23. prune — to trim
  24. deal — an agreement

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