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

Word bank: clip · prune · tear · pass · bay · cold · degree · sharp

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  5. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. My mare is ________________ in color.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. It's one o'clock ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. pass — a permit
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. sharp — with an edge
  5. bay — to keep at bay
  6. degree — an amount
  7. cold — an illness
  8. prune — to trim
  9. clip — for paper
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pass — to succeed
  12. degree — from a university
  13. tear — to rip
  14. sharp — clever
  15. bay — a part of the sea
  16. prune — to trim
  17. bay — a horse colour
  18. cold — not warm
  19. tear — from crying
  20. pass — to spend time
  21. degree — temperature
  22. sharp — exactly
  23. clip — to cut
  24. clip — a video

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