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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: bound · date · clip · band · season · cold · firm · prune

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  7. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  13. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  16. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  23. That was ________________ to happen.
  24. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. prune — to trim
  3. clip — for paper
  4. firm — decided
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. firm — steady
  7. date — on the calendar
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. cold — an illness
  11. clip — a video
  12. season — in sport
  13. bound — obliged
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. bound — tied together
  16. clip — to cut
  17. prune — to trim
  18. firm — a company
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. date — the fruit
  22. season — of the year
  23. bound — certain
  24. band — a music group

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