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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: fork · band · file · prune · mine · land

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  6. When are we going to ________________?
  7. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  8. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  16. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. file — a line of people
  4. prune — to trim
  5. file — a tool
  6. land — to come down
  7. mine — for digging
  8. band — a music group
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. fork — in a road
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. band — a ring
  13. file — a document
  14. prune — to trim
  15. fork — a garden tool
  16. fork — to eat with
  17. land — a country
  18. mine — an explosive

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