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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: bound · club · cue · prune · clip · season · date · kid

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  5. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  8. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  9. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  10. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  11. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. That was ________________ to happen.
  14. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  21. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. date — the fruit
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. season — of the year
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. club — for dancing
  7. season — in sport
  8. bound — obliged
  9. club — for golf
  10. cue — a signal
  11. bound — tied together
  12. prune — to trim
  13. bound — certain
  14. club — a group
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. kid — child
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. clip — for paper
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cue — a hint
  21. clip — to cut
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. cue — for pool
  24. clip — a video

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