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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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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: prune · straw · patient · field · chair · stem · wind · pitcher

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  10. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  11. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  14. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  15. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  16. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  17. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. field — a subject
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. wind — to turn a key
  6. wind — moving air
  7. straw — dry grass
  8. field — for sport
  9. straw — a straw man
  10. patient — a sick person
  11. chair — a professorship
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. stem — a stem cell
  14. chair — to sit on
  15. stem — of a plant
  16. patient — a sick person
  17. stem — to come from
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. field — farmland
  20. chair — a leader
  21. wind — moving air
  22. patient — calm and waiting
  23. prune — to trim
  24. prune — to trim

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