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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: prune · file · wound · net · arm · clip · bass · pop

  1. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We're almost out of ________________.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  7. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  8. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  9. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  10. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. My father caught me by the ________________.
  13. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  16. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  19. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  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. wound — past of 'wind'
  2. prune — to trim
  3. pop — soda
  4. clip — for paper
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. bass — the fish
  7. arm — part of the body
  8. bass — low music
  9. wound — an injury
  10. bass — the instrument
  11. net — in sport
  12. arm — part of the body
  13. net — for catching
  14. net — after costs
  15. file — a line of people
  16. file — a tool
  17. prune — to trim
  18. arm — a part of something
  19. wound — an injury
  20. file — a document
  21. pop — music
  22. pop — to visit
  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