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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 · perch · prune · cap · degree · tear · net · chest

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  6. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  15. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  21. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. cap — a lid
  3. net — after costs
  4. degree — temperature
  5. tear — from crying
  6. net — in sport
  7. tear — from crying
  8. net — for catching
  9. chest — a box
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. degree — an amount
  12. cap — of ice
  13. prune — to trim
  14. perch — the fish
  15. cap — a hat
  16. degree — from a university
  17. prune — to trim
  18. clip — to cut
  19. tear — to rip
  20. chest — of your body
  21. chest — of your body
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. clip — a video
  24. clip — for paper

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