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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: rule · prune · track · band · clip · hand · spring · snap

  1. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  6. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  9. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  16. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  24. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to snap out of it
  2. prune — to trim
  3. prune — to trim
  4. clip — a video
  5. snap — to speak sharply
  6. spring — a coil
  7. clip — to cut
  8. band — a ring
  9. track — a path
  10. snap — to click
  11. band — a music group
  12. hand — in cards
  13. hand — help
  14. track — to keep track
  15. rule — government
  16. track — a song
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. rule — a law
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. clip — for paper
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. rule — to rule out
  24. band — a rubber band

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