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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: drill · ground · pitch · wound · kid · cue · march · prune

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. There's no middle ________________.
  5. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  8. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  16. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  19. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  20. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. cue — a hint
  3. wound — an injury
  4. ground — a position
  5. drill — army training
  6. wound — an injury
  7. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  8. drill — the tool
  9. drill — a practice
  10. march — the month
  11. kid — child
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. march — music
  14. prune — to trim
  15. march — the month
  16. cue — for pool
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. pitch — a sports field
  19. pitch — completely
  20. kid — to tease
  21. ground — crushed
  22. ground — the earth
  23. prune — to trim
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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