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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: prune · object · court · land · club · clip · dip · pitcher

  1. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  2. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  3. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  4. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  7. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  8. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. The ball is in your ________________.
  11. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  12. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  17. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  18. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  19. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  20. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  21. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  22. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  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. object — an aim
  2. court — of a king
  3. object — to protest
  4. land — ground
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. object — a thing
  8. clip — to cut
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. court — for sport
  11. clip — for paper
  12. club — a group
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. prune — to trim
  15. court — of law
  16. club — for golf
  17. clip — a video
  18. dip — a sauce
  19. club — for dancing
  20. land — a country
  21. dip — to sink
  22. dip — to dunk
  23. land — to come down
  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