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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: board · degree · lean · prune · drill · clip · cell · trunk

  1. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  6. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  7. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  8. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  9. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  10. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  11. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  12. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  21. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  22. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  23. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. lean — thin
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. degree — from a university
  5. trunk — of a car
  6. cell — in biology
  7. clip — to cut
  8. lean — to bend
  9. drill — the tool
  10. board — to get on
  11. trunk — of an elephant
  12. trunk — of a tree
  13. clip — a video
  14. degree — temperature
  15. prune — to trim
  16. degree — an amount
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. cell — a phone
  19. clip — for paper
  20. drill — a practice
  21. drill — army training
  22. board — a committee
  23. lean — to rest against
  24. prune — to trim

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