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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: hand · saw · court · season · prune · club · clip · present

  1. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  7. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  8. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  9. Did you ________________ the meat?
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  17. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  18. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. He works in a ________________ mill.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. She's very handy with a ________________.
  24. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — past of 'see'
  2. present — a gift
  3. clip — a video
  4. hand — help
  5. clip — for paper
  6. clip — to cut
  7. club — for dancing
  8. court — of a king
  9. season — to add flavour
  10. prune — to trim
  11. court — for sport
  12. season — of the year
  13. hand — in cards
  14. court — of law
  15. present — the time now
  16. season — in sport
  17. club — for golf
  18. club — a group
  19. present — there
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. saw — the tool
  22. prune — to trim
  23. saw — the tool
  24. hand — part of the body

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