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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. The water is too ________________.
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  18. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  19. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  22. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. cold — the Cold War
  3. clip — to cut
  4. prune — to trim
  5. clip — for paper
  6. file — a document
  7. cold — not warm
  8. squash — the sport
  9. squash — to crush
  10. cold — an illness
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. scale — size or range
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. pitch — completely
  16. file — a line of people
  17. can — to be able to
  18. can — a tin
  19. can — a tin
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. squash — the vegetable
  22. scale — in music
  23. file — a tool
  24. clip — a video

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