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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 120 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: shower · net · prune · present · wound · bound · clip · race

  1. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  4. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  8. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  21. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  22. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  23. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. net — after costs
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. shower — rain
  4. bound — obliged
  5. clip — for paper
  6. prune — to trim
  7. wound — an injury
  8. shower — a meteor shower
  9. clip — a video
  10. bound — tied together
  11. present — a gift
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. net — in sport
  14. clip — to cut
  15. race — humankind
  16. prune — to trim
  17. race — a contest
  18. wound — an injury
  19. present — there
  20. net — for catching
  21. race — the arms race
  22. present — the time now
  23. shower — to wash
  24. bound — certain

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