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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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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: clip · press · prune · season · squash · date · bat · row

  1. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. Have you settled on a ________________?
  6. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  7. Did you ________________ the meat?
  8. Did you ________________ the button?
  9. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  10. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  11. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  14. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  21. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  22. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  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. season — of the year
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. prune — to trim
  5. date — on the calendar
  6. bat — the animal
  7. season — to add flavour
  8. press — to push
  9. row — to paddle
  10. squash — the sport
  11. season — in sport
  12. press — a publisher
  13. squash — to crush
  14. press — newspapers
  15. clip — to cut
  16. row — a line
  17. clip — a video
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. clip — for paper
  20. squash — the vegetable
  21. date — the fruit
  22. row — a quarrel
  23. prune — to trim
  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