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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 · kick · chest · cold · straw · pitcher · root · bulb

  1. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  2. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  3. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  10. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  13. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  14. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  17. The water is too ________________.
  18. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  21. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. I've got to change the light ________________.
  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. straw — a straw man
  2. root — of a word
  3. chest — of your body
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. chest — of your body
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. chest — a box
  10. bulb — of a plant
  11. cold — an illness
  12. straw — dry grass
  13. kick — in football
  14. cold — the Cold War
  15. prune — to trim
  16. root — of a plant
  17. cold — not warm
  18. straw — to clutch at straws
  19. bulb — for light
  20. kick — with a leg
  21. kick — a thrill
  22. root — the cause
  23. bulb — for light
  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