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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  8. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. David sat on the ________________.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  17. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  18. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  22. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Don't do anything ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. clip — to cut
  3. fall — to drop
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. game — wild animals
  8. rash — a series
  9. fall — to drop
  10. swing — to play on
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. hand — part of the body
  13. hand — in cards
  14. swing — music
  15. fall — the season
  16. hand — help
  17. pass — a permit
  18. swing — in golf
  19. clip — a video
  20. game — a match
  21. pass — to spend time
  22. rash — on the skin
  23. clip — for paper
  24. rash — hasty

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