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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  4. David sat on the ________________.
  5. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  6. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  7. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  8. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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. kick — a thrill
  4. swing — to play on
  5. club — for dancing
  6. tear — to rip
  7. swing — music
  8. club — for golf
  9. rush — hurry
  10. bat — the animal
  11. clip — for paper
  12. club — a group
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. tear — from crying
  15. rush — to hurry
  16. clip — a video
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. prune — to trim
  19. kick — in football
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. tear — from crying
  22. swing — in golf
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. prune — the fruit

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