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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. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  15. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  16. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  17. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  20. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. I'll be taking the ________________.
  23. How do you ________________ your surname?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. clip — to cut
  3. prune — to trim
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. clip — a video
  6. fall — to drop
  7. bark — of a tree
  8. fall — to drop
  9. field — a subject
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. field — farmland
  12. squash — the sport
  13. squash — to crush
  14. bark — to shout
  15. fall — the season
  16. tube — in a tire
  17. tube — a container
  18. clip — for paper
  19. spell — a short time
  20. field — for sport
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. tube — the underground
  23. spell — letters
  24. prune — to trim

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