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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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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: fork · patient · clip · prune · cold · coach · mark · bank

  1. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. Have you met the new head ________________?
  8. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  15. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  16. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  17. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. bank — for money
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. clip — for paper
  4. clip — a video
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. fork — in a road
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. bank — of a river
  9. cold — an illness
  10. clip — to cut
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. mark — to pay attention
  15. mark — a trace
  16. fork — a garden tool
  17. patient — calm and waiting
  18. cold — not warm
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. bank — for money
  21. prune — to trim
  22. mark — a grade
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. patient — a sick person

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