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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  8. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  9. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  10. Did you ________________ the meat?
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  20. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  21. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  24. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. clip — for paper
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. pound — a weight
  5. season — of the year
  6. race — a contest
  7. fall — the season
  8. race — the arms race
  9. pound — to hit hard
  10. season — to add flavour
  11. prune — to trim
  12. foot — the bottom
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bat — in an idiom
  16. season — in sport
  17. fall — to drop
  18. race — humankind
  19. fall — to drop
  20. bat — the animal
  21. foot — part of the body
  22. clip — a video
  23. pound — for dogs
  24. foot — a measure

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