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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: ground · hand · fork · prune · court · perch · clip · net

  1. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  4. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  5. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. There's no middle ________________.
  9. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  21. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  22. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  23. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  24. Add some ________________ pepper to it.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. perch — for a bird
  4. fork — a garden tool
  5. ground — the earth
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. prune — to trim
  8. ground — a position
  9. fork — to eat with
  10. court — for sport
  11. clip — to cut
  12. hand — in cards
  13. court — of a king
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — for catching
  16. net — in sport
  17. perch — the fish
  18. clip — for paper
  19. prune — to trim
  20. court — of law
  21. fork — in a road
  22. hand — help
  23. clip — a video
  24. ground — crushed

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