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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: court · mine · clip · file · spell · prune · safe · sharp

  1. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  2. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  3. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  4. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. It's one o'clock ________________.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. How do you ________________ your surname?
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  19. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  20. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  24. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.

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

Answer key

  1. spell — magic
  2. sharp — clever
  3. sharp — with an edge
  4. mine — belonging to me
  5. mine — for digging
  6. safe — out of danger
  7. prune — to trim
  8. clip — for paper
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. sharp — exactly
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. spell — a short time
  13. court — of a king
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spell — letters
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. file — a tool
  18. safe — out of danger
  19. court — of law
  20. clip — a video
  21. court — for sport
  22. file — a line of people
  23. clip — to cut
  24. file — a document

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