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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: rush · bark · cold · kick · clip · band · mug · prune

  1. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  4. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  5. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  6. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Where did you ________________ them?
  12. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  15. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  16. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. That must've been a ________________.
  23. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  24. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.

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

Answer key

  1. bark — of a tree
  2. clip — for paper
  3. clip — to cut
  4. band — a rubber band
  5. clip — a video
  6. bark — to shout
  7. band — a ring
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. rush — hurry
  10. prune — to trim
  11. mug — to rob
  12. kick — a thrill
  13. cold — an illness
  14. mug — a cup
  15. kick — in football
  16. cold — the Cold War
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. rush — to hurry
  19. cold — not warm
  20. band — a music group
  21. prune — to trim
  22. rush — a thrill
  23. mug — a face
  24. kick — with a leg

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