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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  3. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  4. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  16. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  17. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  18. He works in a ________________ mill.
  19. She's very handy with a ________________.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. stock — goods
  3. last — final
  4. saw — past of 'see'
  5. file — a tool
  6. trunk — of a car
  7. last — to go on
  8. prune — to trim
  9. clip — to cut
  10. scale — in music
  11. file — a document
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. stock — a soup base
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. clip — for paper
  16. scale — size or range
  17. trunk — of an elephant
  18. saw — the tool
  19. saw — the tool
  20. last — finally
  21. clip — a video
  22. file — a line of people
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. stock — shares

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