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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: pitcher · bat · prune · pitch · present · cold · pop · field

  1. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  2. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  5. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  6. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  9. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. You don't need to ________________ round.
  12. We're almost out of ________________.
  13. He is an ace ________________.
  14. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.

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

Answer key

  1. present — the time now
  2. bat — the animal
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. pitch — a sports field
  5. pitch — a sales talk
  6. present — a gift
  7. present — there
  8. pitcher — a jug
  9. field — farmland
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pop — to visit
  12. pop — soda
  13. pitcher — in baseball
  14. bat — in an idiom
  15. prune — to trim
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. pop — music
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. cold — an illness
  21. field — for sport
  22. field — a subject
  23. cold — not warm
  24. pitch — completely

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