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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  15. False peace will not ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  18. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  19. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  20. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. There's no middle ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. hand — in cards
  3. clip — to cut
  4. hand — help
  5. last — finally
  6. prune — to trim
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. ground — crushed
  9. net — after costs
  10. clip — for paper
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. lash — a whip stroke
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — in sport
  15. last — to go on
  16. last — final
  17. straw — a straw man
  18. lash — to lash out
  19. lash — an eyelash
  20. straw — to clutch at straws
  21. clip — a video
  22. ground — the earth
  23. prune — to trim
  24. ground — a position

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