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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: fork · clip · prune · root · chip · fall · bat · pop

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. You don't need to ________________ round.
  9. We're almost out of ________________.
  10. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  11. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  14. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  15. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  16. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  19. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  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. clip — for paper
  2. pop — music
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chip — for betting
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — to trim
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. pop — to visit
  9. pop — soda
  10. chip — to eat
  11. fall — the season
  12. fall — to drop
  13. root — of a plant
  14. fork — in a road
  15. fall — to drop
  16. chip — in a computer
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. fork — a garden tool
  19. clip — a video
  20. clip — to cut
  21. bat — in an idiom
  22. root — the cause
  23. root — of a word
  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