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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: clip · prune · cold · date · content · cue · tear · bore

  1. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  8. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  11. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  12. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  13. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. Have you settled on a ________________?
  19. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  24. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. tear — from crying
  3. clip — a video
  4. prune — to trim
  5. cue — for pool
  6. clip — to cut
  7. bore — to drill
  8. content — happy
  9. bore — to tire
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. date — the fruit
  12. cue — a hint
  13. content — videos and posts
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. cold — not warm
  16. cold — an illness
  17. tear — to rip
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. content — the amount
  20. prune — to trim
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. clip — for paper
  23. cue — a signal
  24. bore — gave birth

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