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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: prune · land · hand · band · coach · clip · board · rest

  1. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  3. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  8. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  11. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  12. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  17. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  20. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  21. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  22. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  23. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. coach — pulled by horses
  3. band — a rubber band
  4. prune — to trim
  5. land — to come down
  6. land — a country
  7. coach — a trainer
  8. board — a flat piece
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. clip — for paper
  11. hand — part of the body
  12. rest — what's left
  13. hand — in cards
  14. clip — a video
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. band — a music group
  17. band — a ring
  18. rest — what's left
  19. land — ground
  20. board — to get on
  21. hand — help
  22. clip — to cut
  23. rest — a break
  24. prune — to trim

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