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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: prune · clip · snap · rule · last · bat · content · kick

  1. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  2. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  3. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  6. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  7. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  8. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  18. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  19. False peace will not ________________.
  20. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  23. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. bat — for baseball
  2. rule — a law
  3. snap — to speak sharply
  4. clip — to cut
  5. kick — in football
  6. snap — to snap out of it
  7. last — final
  8. rule — government
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. snap — to click
  11. clip — for paper
  12. clip — a video
  13. bat — the animal
  14. content — the amount
  15. prune — to trim
  16. prune — to trim
  17. content — happy
  18. last — finally
  19. last — to go on
  20. rule — to rule out
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. bat — in an idiom
  23. kick — with a leg
  24. prune — the fruit

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