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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Have you settled on a ________________?
  5. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  6. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. The water is too ________________.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  12. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  13. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  18. Have you found your soul ________________?
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. scale — for weighing
  3. clip — a video
  4. date — on the calendar
  5. mate — to breed
  6. date — the fruit
  7. spring — a coil
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. cold — not warm
  10. clip — to cut
  11. wake — a trail
  12. spring — of water
  13. date — on the calendar
  14. prune — to trim
  15. scale — in music
  16. cold — an illness
  17. wake — before a funeral
  18. mate — a partner
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. spring — the season
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. mate — a friend
  23. scale — size or range
  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