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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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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: clip · tear · land · toast · march · prune · fork · chair

  1. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  4. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  5. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  9. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  15. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. I would like to propose a ________________ on your birthday.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. I like lots of butter on my ________________ in the morning.
  20. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  21. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  22. After the show, she was the ________________ of the town.
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fork — a garden tool
  2. tear — from crying
  3. march — the month
  4. tear — to rip
  5. fork — to eat with
  6. land — ground
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a leader
  9. fork — in a road
  10. tear — from crying
  11. prune — to trim
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. land — to come down
  14. clip — for paper
  15. march — the month
  16. prune — to trim
  17. toast — a drink to someone
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. toast — bread
  20. clip — to cut
  21. march — music
  22. toast — the most admired
  23. land — a country
  24. clip — a video

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