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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 116 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: prune · cold · pound · staff · clip · sharp · bulb · pop

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. I've got to change the light ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  16. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  17. It's one o'clock ________________.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. We're almost out of ________________.
  20. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  21. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  22. You don't need to ________________ round.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. bulb — of a plant
  3. bulb — for light
  4. pound — to hit hard
  5. clip — to cut
  6. cold — not warm
  7. sharp — clever
  8. cold — an illness
  9. clip — a video
  10. bulb — for light
  11. clip — for paper
  12. prune — to trim
  13. prune — to trim
  14. staff — employees
  15. pop — music
  16. staff — employees
  17. sharp — exactly
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. pop — soda
  20. staff — a stick
  21. pound — for dogs
  22. pop — to visit
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. pound — a weight

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