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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: degree · net · rush · fork · prune · club · clip · file

  1. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  2. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  3. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  4. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  5. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. That must've been a ________________.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  19. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. Hold the papers together with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. rush — hurry
  2. club — for dancing
  3. file — a document
  4. net — after costs
  5. club — for golf
  6. prune — to trim
  7. fork — to eat with
  8. degree — temperature
  9. rush — a thrill
  10. file — a line of people
  11. prune — to trim
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. degree — an amount
  14. degree — from a university
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. clip — a video
  18. file — a tool
  19. fork — in a road
  20. clip — to cut
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. club — a group
  24. clip — for paper

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