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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: game · hand · bark · pop · present · tear · snap · prune

  1. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  2. You don't need to ________________ round.
  3. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  4. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  5. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  6. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  7. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  8. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  11. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  12. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  15. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  16. That was a fun ________________.
  17. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  22. We're almost out of ________________.
  23. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  24. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. snap — to speak sharply
  2. pop — to visit
  3. snap — to click
  4. tear — from crying
  5. tear — to rip
  6. game — a kind of play
  7. snap — to snap out of it
  8. pop — music
  9. prune — to trim
  10. hand — part of the body
  11. present — a gift
  12. present — the time now
  13. prune — to trim
  14. tear — from crying
  15. hand — help
  16. game — a match
  17. game — wild animals
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. present — there
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. hand — in cards
  22. pop — soda
  23. bark — to shout
  24. bark — of a tree

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