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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: tear · date · bear · prune · march · game · clip · race

  1. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  3. Have you settled on a ________________?
  4. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  5. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  6. That was a fun ________________.
  7. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  13. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  22. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  23. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  24. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. game — a kind of play
  3. date — on the calendar
  4. race — the arms race
  5. bear — the animal
  6. game — a match
  7. march — the month
  8. clip — to cut
  9. prune — to trim
  10. tear — from crying
  11. clip — a video
  12. race — a contest
  13. race — humankind
  14. prune — to trim
  15. bear — to put up with
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. game — wild animals
  19. tear — to rip
  20. date — the fruit
  21. tear — from crying
  22. march — music
  23. bear — the animal
  24. march — the month

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