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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: prune · bay · clip · patient · stick · wound · wind · content

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  6. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  7. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  8. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  9. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. My mare is ________________ in color.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  14. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  18. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — for paper
  5. stick — a piece of wood
  6. bay — a part of the sea
  7. patient — a sick person
  8. stick — a piece of wood
  9. content — the amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. bay — a horse colour
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. bay — to keep at bay
  14. wound — an injury
  15. clip — to cut
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. content — videos and posts
  18. stick — to attach or keep to
  19. clip — a video
  20. wound — an injury
  21. prune — to trim
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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