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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. Where did you ________________ them?
  6. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  7. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. clip — a video
  4. cold — an illness
  5. mug — to rob
  6. branch — a division
  7. mug — a face
  8. last — finally
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. last — to go on
  11. bear — to put up with
  12. bear — the animal
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. prune — to trim
  15. mug — a cup
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. clip — to cut
  19. hand — help
  20. last — final
  21. cold — not warm
  22. hand — in cards
  23. bear — the animal
  24. prune — to trim

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