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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  9. I'll be taking the ________________.
  10. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  11. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  12. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  13. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  14. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. pound — for dogs
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cold — not warm
  6. race — humankind
  7. march — the month
  8. pound — a weight
  9. tube — the underground
  10. present — a gift
  11. race — a contest
  12. pound — to hit hard
  13. present — there
  14. present — the time now
  15. clip — to cut
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. tube — a container
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. march — music
  20. march — the month
  21. clip — a video
  22. cold — an illness
  23. race — the arms race
  24. clip — for paper

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