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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 120 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: ground · land · hide · spring · saw · prune · coach · bat

  1. When are we going to ________________?
  2. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  3. She's very handy with a ________________.
  4. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  7. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  8. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  9. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  14. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  17. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. He works in a ________________ mill.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.

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

Answer key

  1. land — to come down
  2. hide — to keep secret
  3. saw — the tool
  4. spring — the season
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. land — ground
  7. hide — animal skin
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. bat — for baseball
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. prune — to trim
  13. ground — crushed
  14. ground — the earth
  15. ground — a position
  16. spring — of water
  17. land — a country
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. bat — in an idiom
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. spring — a coil
  22. saw — the tool
  23. prune — to trim
  24. bat — the animal

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