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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  7. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  8. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  9. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  10. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  11. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  12. That was a fun ________________.
  13. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  18. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  19. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. The ________________ market has crashed.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. clip — to cut
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. ball — a great time
  5. prune — to trim
  6. field — farmland
  7. ball — a round shape
  8. game — a kind of play
  9. clip — for paper
  10. stock — a soup base
  11. game — wild animals
  12. game — a match
  13. clip — a video
  14. pitch — completely
  15. staff — a stick
  16. field — for sport
  17. field — a subject
  18. staff — employees
  19. staff — employees
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. ball — a dance
  22. stock — goods
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. stock — shares

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