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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: mark · prune · hide · clip · march · field · capital · shower

  1. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  4. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  18. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  19. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.

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

Answer key

  1. hide — to keep secret
  2. field — a subject
  3. mark — a grade
  4. capital — a city
  5. clip — for paper
  6. march — the month
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. hide — animal skin
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. prune — to trim
  11. clip — a video
  12. field — farmland
  13. capital — money
  14. clip — to cut
  15. field — for sport
  16. prune — to trim
  17. shower — a meteor shower
  18. shower — rain
  19. march — the month
  20. shower — to wash
  21. march — music
  22. capital — a big letter
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. mark — a trace

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