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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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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: shower · snap · bat · prune · march · racket · bark · clip

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  5. He hit the ball with his ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  12. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  13. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  14. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  15. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  20. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  21. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  22. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. bat — in an idiom
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bark — of a tree
  5. racket — for tennis
  6. march — the month
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. clip — for paper
  10. march — the month
  11. shower — rain
  12. racket — a loud noise
  13. bark — to shout
  14. snap — to snap out of it
  15. bat — for baseball
  16. snap — to click
  17. march — music
  18. bat — the animal
  19. shower — to wash
  20. snap — to speak sharply
  21. shower — a meteor shower
  22. racket — for tennis
  23. clip — to cut
  24. bark — a dog's sound

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