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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 · prune · calf · spell · land · bat · pitcher · content

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. He had ________________ pain while walking.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  7. How do you ________________ your surname?
  8. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  9. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. The giraffe protected her ________________ with great courage.
  12. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. The giraffe did all she could to defend her ________________.
  21. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. calf — of the leg
  3. prune — to trim
  4. mine — for digging
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. content — the amount
  7. spell — letters
  8. spell — a short time
  9. content — videos and posts
  10. land — to come down
  11. calf — a young animal
  12. content — happy
  13. land — ground
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. spell — magic
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. prune — to trim
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. calf — a young animal
  21. land — a country
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pitcher — a jug
  24. mine — belonging to me

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