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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 120 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. Have you met the new head ________________?
  17. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  18. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  23. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  24. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. spring — a coil
  2. net — after costs
  3. stem — of a plant
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. trunk — of an elephant
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. prune — to trim
  11. net — in sport
  12. prune — to trim
  13. coach — a trainer
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. net — for catching
  16. coach — a trainer
  17. stem — a stem cell
  18. stem — to come from
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. spring — the season
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. trunk — of a tree
  23. pitch — completely
  24. spring — of water

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