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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: toast · wound · bat · degree · present · prune · kick · clip

  1. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  10. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  13. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  18. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  19. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  22. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.

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

Answer key

  1. present — there
  2. prune — to trim
  3. present — a gift
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. clip — for paper
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — from a university
  8. degree — an amount
  9. toast — bread
  10. wound — an injury
  11. clip — to cut
  12. toast — the most admired
  13. bat — for baseball
  14. clip — a video
  15. degree — temperature
  16. bat — the animal
  17. bat — in an idiom
  18. toast — a drink to someone
  19. present — the time now
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. kick — in football
  22. wound — past of 'wind'
  23. prune — to trim
  24. kick — a thrill

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