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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: fan · bat · wound · clip · prune · pitch · pitcher · pop

  1. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  2. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  5. We're almost out of ________________.
  6. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  11. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  12. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. You don't need to ________________ round.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.

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

Answer key

  1. pitch — a sports field
  2. fan — to cool the air
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bat — the animal
  5. pop — soda
  6. pop — music
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. prune — to trim
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. pitch — completely
  11. clip — a video
  12. wound — an injury
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. clip — to cut
  16. pitch — a sales talk
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. pop — to visit
  20. wound — an injury
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. clip — for paper
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. bat — for baseball

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