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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  3. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  4. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  5. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  6. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  11. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. It's one o'clock ________________.
  16. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  20. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  23. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. shower — to wash
  3. fall — to drop
  4. shower — rain
  5. branch — a division
  6. sharp — with an edge
  7. clip — to cut
  8. prune — to trim
  9. prune — to trim
  10. pass — to succeed
  11. pass — a permit
  12. cold — an illness
  13. branch — of a bank
  14. clip — a video
  15. sharp — exactly
  16. pass — to spend time
  17. fall — to drop
  18. cold — not warm
  19. sharp — clever
  20. shower — a meteor shower
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. branch — of a tree
  23. fall — the season
  24. cold — the Cold War

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