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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. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  2. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  18. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  19. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. cell — in biology
  2. band — a ring
  3. clip — a video
  4. clip — to cut
  5. squash — to crush
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. squash — the vegetable
  8. prune — to trim
  9. kid — to tease
  10. squash — the sport
  11. tube — in a tire
  12. cell — a phone
  13. clip — for paper
  14. band — a rubber band
  15. tube — a container
  16. kid — child
  17. present — there
  18. present — the time now
  19. band — a music group
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. tube — the underground
  23. present — a gift
  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