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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: mine · hand · tube · prune · deal · net

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I'll be taking the ________________.
  6. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  11. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  12. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  13. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  16. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  17. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. hand — help
  3. net — for catching
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. tube — the underground
  6. hand — part of the body
  7. net — in sport
  8. prune — to trim
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. deal — to handle
  11. hand — in cards
  12. tube — a container
  13. tube — in a tire
  14. net — after costs
  15. deal — an agreement
  16. deal — a big deal
  17. mine — belonging to me
  18. mine — for digging

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