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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: prune · craft · cold · safe · race · hand · band · clip

  1. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  2. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Tom was very happy that his son returned home ________________ and sound.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. He has no idea where the ________________ is.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. Is it ________________ for us to be here?
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. craft — boats
  2. craft — a skill
  3. prune — to trim
  4. safe — out of danger
  5. clip — to cut
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. race — the arms race
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. hand — part of the body
  10. clip — a video
  11. race — humankind
  12. cold — an illness
  13. clip — for paper
  14. craft — a handicraft
  15. hand — help
  16. safe — a strongbox
  17. hand — in cards
  18. prune — to trim
  19. band — a ring
  20. safe — out of danger
  21. cold — not warm
  22. band — a music group
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. race — a contest

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