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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: club · net · cold · fall · face · prune · clip · board

  1. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  11. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  12. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  15. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  18. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  19. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. board — to get on
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. fall — to drop
  6. net — in sport
  7. prune — to trim
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. cold — an illness
  10. net — after costs
  11. face — to confront
  12. face — part of the head
  13. club — a group
  14. net — for catching
  15. club — for dancing
  16. clip — a video
  17. board — a committee
  18. fall — to drop
  19. face — to point toward
  20. cold — not warm
  21. fall — the season
  22. clip — to cut
  23. club — for golf
  24. prune — to trim

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