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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 116 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: prune · drill · pitcher · dip · clip · branch · wake · cold

  1. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  2. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  3. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  7. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  12. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. He is an ace ________________.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. wake — to stop sleeping
  2. drill — the tool
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. prune — to trim
  6. branch — of a bank
  7. dip — a sauce
  8. branch — a division
  9. clip — for paper
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. dip — to sink
  12. wake — before a funeral
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. wake — a trail
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. cold — not warm
  18. drill — army training
  19. clip — to cut
  20. pitcher — in baseball
  21. drill — a practice
  22. clip — a video
  23. cold — an illness
  24. branch — of a tree

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