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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 116 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: bat · coach · prune · mine · cue · field

  1. Have you met the new head ________________?
  2. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  12. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  13. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  14. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  15. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. mine — belonging to me
  3. mine — for digging
  4. bat — for baseball
  5. prune — to trim
  6. coach — pulled by horses
  7. cue — a hint
  8. bat — the animal
  9. prune — to trim
  10. field — farmland
  11. cue — for pool
  12. field — a subject
  13. mine — an explosive
  14. field — for sport
  15. cue — a signal
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. bat — in an idiom

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