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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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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: game · tear · bark · clip · fall · prune · rest · leaves

  1. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  2. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  3. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  4. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  8. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  12. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  13. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  16. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. That was a fun ________________.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  23. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. leaves — of a tree
  2. clip — a video
  3. leaves — lets stay
  4. game — wild animals
  5. tear — to rip
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. fall — to drop
  8. rest — what's left
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. rest — what's left
  11. bark — to shout
  12. bark — a dog's sound
  13. tear — from crying
  14. rest — a break
  15. leaves — to go away
  16. fall — to drop
  17. prune — to trim
  18. game — a match
  19. clip — to cut
  20. fall — the season
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — from crying
  23. bark — of a tree
  24. clip — for paper

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