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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: prune · bowl · ground · press · bear · fall · saw · clip

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. There's no middle ________________.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. He works in a ________________ mill.
  6. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  7. Did you ________________ the button?
  8. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  9. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  10. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  13. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  17. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  18. She's very handy with a ________________.
  19. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  20. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  23. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  24. A black ________________ roamed the forest.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. ground — a position
  3. ground — the earth
  4. clip — to cut
  5. saw — the tool
  6. clip — a video
  7. press — to push
  8. fall — the season
  9. bowl — to roll
  10. fall — to drop
  11. prune — to trim
  12. bear — to put up with
  13. fall — to drop
  14. clip — for paper
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. saw — past of 'see'
  17. press — newspapers
  18. saw — the tool
  19. bowl — a football final
  20. press — a publisher
  21. prune — to trim
  22. bowl — a dish
  23. bear — the animal
  24. bear — the animal

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