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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  4. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  16. This piece is in a major ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  19. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. clip — a video
  3. key — for a lock
  4. key — the most important part
  5. snap — to click
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. patient — a sick person
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. wake — a trail
  11. prune — to trim
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. snap — to snap out of it
  16. key — in music
  17. clip — to cut
  18. wake — to stop sleeping
  19. race — humankind
  20. race — the arms race
  21. patient — a sick person
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. clip — for paper
  24. race — a contest

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