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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 116 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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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: degree · spell · clip · bound · file · tear · snap · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  4. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  5. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  9. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  10. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  16. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  17. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  18. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. How do you ________________ your surname?
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. That was ________________ to happen.
  23. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. clip — a video
  3. spell — a short time
  4. clip — for paper
  5. snap — to click
  6. file — a document
  7. file — a tool
  8. bound — tied together
  9. snap — to snap out of it
  10. bound — obliged
  11. degree — from a university
  12. spell — magic
  13. snap — to speak sharply
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. tear — from crying
  16. file — a line of people
  17. clip — to cut
  18. degree — an amount
  19. prune — to trim
  20. spell — letters
  21. degree — temperature
  22. bound — certain
  23. tear — to rip
  24. tear — from crying

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