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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: clip · prune · row · arm · stem · band · bass · cold

  1. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  3. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  6. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  7. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  8. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  11. The water is too ________________.
  12. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  13. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  14. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  15. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  18. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  19. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  20. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. My father caught me by the ________________.
  23. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. clip — for paper
  3. arm — part of the body
  4. clip — a video
  5. arm — a part of something
  6. row — to paddle
  7. stem — of a plant
  8. cold — an illness
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. band — a ring
  11. cold — not warm
  12. stem — to come from
  13. band — a rubber band
  14. bass — the fish
  15. bass — low music
  16. prune — to trim
  17. band — a music group
  18. clip — to cut
  19. bass — the instrument
  20. cold — the Cold War
  21. prune — to trim
  22. arm — part of the body
  23. stem — a stem cell
  24. row — a line

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