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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 116 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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  4. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The light ________________ burned out.
  7. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  8. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  9. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  22. The water is too ________________.
  23. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  24. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. club — for golf
  4. club — a group
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bulb — for light
  7. craft — a skill
  8. snap — to snap out of it
  9. face — part of the head
  10. clip — a video
  11. bulb — for light
  12. snap — to click
  13. clip — to cut
  14. craft — boats
  15. clip — for paper
  16. club — for dancing
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. snap — to speak sharply
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. face — to confront
  22. cold — not warm
  23. craft — a handicraft
  24. face — to point toward

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