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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  11. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  12. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. net — after costs
  4. clip — a video
  5. net — for catching
  6. snap — to click
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. march — the month
  9. object — a thing
  10. shower — to wash
  11. shower — a meteor shower
  12. object — to protest
  13. last — final
  14. clip — to cut
  15. march — music
  16. clip — for paper
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. net — in sport
  19. march — the month
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. shower — rain
  22. last — finally
  23. object — an aim
  24. last — to go on

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