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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  4. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  5. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. The ball is in your ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  14. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  15. Where did you ________________ them?
  16. He was locked up in a ________________.
  17. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  18. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  19. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  20. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. wound — an injury
  4. court — of law
  5. wound — an injury
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. band — a ring
  8. court — for sport
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. cell — in biology
  11. clip — for paper
  12. cell — a phone
  13. mug — a face
  14. band — a music group
  15. mug — to rob
  16. cell — in a prison
  17. snap — to speak sharply
  18. wound — past of 'wind'
  19. mug — a cup
  20. court — of a king
  21. snap — to click
  22. clip — a video
  23. clip — to cut
  24. snap — to snap out of it

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