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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: last · kick · prune · land · rash · net · cell · kid

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  5. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  6. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  11. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  12. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. When are we going to ________________?
  15. Don't do anything ________________.
  16. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  17. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  18. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  19. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  20. He was locked up in a ________________.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  23. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  24. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. land — ground
  4. kick — with a leg
  5. cell — a phone
  6. kick — a thrill
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. net — after costs
  9. last — to go on
  10. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  11. land — a country
  12. kick — in football
  13. last — finally
  14. land — to come down
  15. rash — hasty
  16. net — in sport
  17. rash — on the skin
  18. cell — in biology
  19. kid — to tease
  20. cell — in a prison
  21. kid — child
  22. last — final
  23. net — for catching
  24. rash — a series

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