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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: row · cue · march · chair · prune · fork · pitch · clip

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  5. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  13. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. chair — to sit on
  3. prune — to trim
  4. chair — a professorship
  5. pitch — a sports field
  6. prune — to trim
  7. march — the month
  8. chair — a leader
  9. cue — a signal
  10. march — the month
  11. row — to paddle
  12. cue — for pool
  13. clip — to cut
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. cue — a hint
  16. pitch — completely
  17. fork — a garden tool
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. row — a line
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. fork — in a road
  22. march — music
  23. clip — a video
  24. row — a quarrel

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