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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. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  5. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  6. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  7. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  8. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. You don't need to ________________ round.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. ground — crushed
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. stem — of a plant
  5. pop — music
  6. clip — for paper
  7. plane — in geometry
  8. file — a line of people
  9. clip — a video
  10. ground — a position
  11. file — a tool
  12. row — a quarrel
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pop — to visit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. plane — a tool
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. file — a document
  19. row — to paddle
  20. pop — soda
  21. row — a line
  22. stem — to come from
  23. prune — to trim
  24. ground — the earth

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