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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. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  6. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  7. The tickets are free of ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  13. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  16. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  20. David sat on the ________________.
  21. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — music
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wind — to turn a key
  4. tear — from crying
  5. charge — electricity
  6. tear — from crying
  7. charge — a price
  8. mate — a partner
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pop — soda
  11. tear — to rip
  12. wind — moving air
  13. wind — moving air
  14. clip — to cut
  15. swing — in golf
  16. mate — to breed
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. pop — to visit
  19. mate — a friend
  20. swing — to play on
  21. charge — in control
  22. clip — a video
  23. prune — to trim
  24. swing — music

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