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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: perch · clip · pitcher · prune · cold · mark · rash · season

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  3. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  4. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  5. Did you ________________ the meat?
  6. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  7. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  13. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. Don't do anything ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  19. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  20. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. cold — an illness
  3. clip — a video
  4. mark — a trace
  5. season — to add flavour
  6. mark — to pay attention
  7. rash — a series
  8. clip — to cut
  9. prune — to trim
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. season — in sport
  12. perch — for a bird
  13. cold — the Cold War
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. prune — to trim
  16. rash — hasty
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. mark — a grade
  19. rash — on the skin
  20. season — of the year
  21. cold — not warm
  22. perch — the fish
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. pitcher — a jug

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