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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: perch · court · clip · bark · saw · pass · prune · race

  1. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  5. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  6. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  7. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. He works in a ________________ mill.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pass — to succeed
  2. saw — the tool
  3. prune — to trim
  4. court — of a king
  5. bark — to shout
  6. court — of law
  7. clip — for paper
  8. clip — to cut
  9. saw — the tool
  10. pass — a permit
  11. court — for sport
  12. race — the arms race
  13. prune — to trim
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. clip — a video
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. race — humankind
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. race — a contest
  21. bark — of a tree
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. perch — the fish
  24. perch — for a bird

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