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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 120 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: clip · drill · deal · hand · wound · row · pop · prune

  1. You don't need to ________________ round.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  19. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  23. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  24. I had a ________________ with my boss today.

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

Answer key

  1. pop — to visit
  2. clip — for paper
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — to cut
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. clip — a video
  7. drill — a practice
  8. deal — an agreement
  9. pop — music
  10. pop — soda
  11. wound — an injury
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. wound — an injury
  15. row — to paddle
  16. row — a line
  17. drill — army training
  18. drill — the tool
  19. hand — help
  20. deal — to handle
  21. prune — to trim
  22. hand — in cards
  23. deal — a big deal
  24. row — a quarrel

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