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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  10. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  11. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  12. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  17. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  18. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  19. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  20. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  23. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bass — low music
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. clip — for paper
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. bass — the instrument
  8. prune — to trim
  9. capital — a city
  10. scale — for weighing
  11. capital — money
  12. drill — the tool
  13. clip — a video
  14. rush — to hurry
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. scale — in music
  18. rush — hurry
  19. drill — army training
  20. scale — size or range
  21. drill — a practice
  22. bass — the fish
  23. capital — a big letter
  24. rush — a thrill

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