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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: clip · fall · mate · prune · wind · band · rush · staff

  1. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  6. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  7. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  8. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  14. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  15. Have you found your soul ________________?
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  24. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — to cut
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. fall — to drop
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. wind — moving air
  6. staff — employees
  7. band — a ring
  8. rush — hurry
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. clip — for paper
  13. mate — to breed
  14. staff — a stick
  15. mate — a partner
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. fall — to drop
  18. band — a music group
  19. clip — a video
  20. mate — a friend
  21. fall — the season
  22. prune — to trim
  23. staff — employees
  24. wind — moving air

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