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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 116 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: sharp · clip · land · prune · rest · kid · band · saw

  1. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  5. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. He works in a ________________ mill.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  11. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  15. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  16. It's one o'clock ________________.
  17. She's very handy with a ________________.
  18. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. rest — what's left
  3. prune — to trim
  4. land — a country
  5. band — a rubber band
  6. prune — to trim
  7. saw — the tool
  8. land — ground
  9. clip — a video
  10. sharp — clever
  11. saw — past of 'see'
  12. kid — to tease
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. rest — a break
  15. sharp — with an edge
  16. sharp — exactly
  17. saw — the tool
  18. rest — what's left
  19. clip — to cut
  20. kid — child
  21. band — a music group
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. clip — for paper
  24. land — to come down

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