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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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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 · lean · pound · clip · cold · hand · ruler · wound

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  4. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  12. A ________________ helps one to draw a straight line.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. The water is too ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. The people resisted their cruel ________________.
  17. Borders were drawn on the map using a ________________, with no regard for cultural realities on the ground.
  18. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  24. He is as ________________ as a wolf.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. hand — help
  3. lean — to rest against
  4. lean — to bend
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. clip — to cut
  7. pound — to hit hard
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. prune — to trim
  11. wound — an injury
  12. ruler — for measuring
  13. clip — for paper
  14. cold — not warm
  15. cold — an illness
  16. ruler — a monarch
  17. ruler — for measuring
  18. pound — a weight
  19. clip — a video
  20. hand — in cards
  21. wound — an injury
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. prune — to trim
  24. lean — thin

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