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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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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 · charge · clip · hand · wake · degree · pitcher · net

  1. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  19. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  20. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  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. charge — in control
  2. net — after costs
  3. prune — to trim
  4. charge — a price
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. hand — part of the body
  8. degree — temperature
  9. clip — for paper
  10. hand — help
  11. prune — to trim
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wake — a trail
  14. degree — from a university
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. wake — to stop sleeping
  17. hand — in cards
  18. charge — electricity
  19. net — for catching
  20. wake — before a funeral
  21. clip — to cut
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. net — in sport
  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