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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. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. When are we going to ________________?
  8. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Have you found your soul ________________?
  14. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  15. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  18. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  19. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  24. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.

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. degree — from a university
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. degree — an amount
  6. clip — for paper
  7. land — to come down
  8. kick — with a leg
  9. clip — a video
  10. land — ground
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. degree — temperature
  13. mate — a partner
  14. mate — to breed
  15. branch — of a tree
  16. fall — to drop
  17. mate — a friend
  18. kick — a thrill
  19. kick — in football
  20. prune — to trim
  21. branch — a division
  22. fall — the season
  23. fall — to drop
  24. land — a country

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