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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 120 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 black ________________ roamed the forest.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  7. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  8. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  9. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  13. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  17. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  23. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  24. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bear — the animal
  2. prune — to trim
  3. track — to keep track
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. prune — to trim
  6. bear — to put up with
  7. snap — to click
  8. lash — an eyelash
  9. lash — a whip stroke
  10. tear — from crying
  11. clip — for paper
  12. tear — to rip
  13. track — a song
  14. clip — a video
  15. hand — help
  16. hand — in cards
  17. track — a path
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tear — from crying
  20. hand — part of the body
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. snap — to speak sharply
  23. lash — to lash out
  24. bear — the animal

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