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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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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 · bass · field · cue · last · pound · cell · straw

  1. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  2. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  3. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  6. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  7. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  10. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  11. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  14. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  21. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  22. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  23. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. cue — a signal
  2. straw — a straw man
  3. bass — the fish
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. cell — in biology
  6. bass — the instrument
  7. bass — low music
  8. last — finally
  9. field — a subject
  10. pound — for dogs
  11. field — farmland
  12. cell — a phone
  13. straw — to clutch at straws
  14. pound — a weight
  15. prune — to trim
  16. field — for sport
  17. last — to go on
  18. prune — to trim
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. cue — for pool
  21. cue — a hint
  22. pound — to hit hard
  23. last — final
  24. cell — in a prison

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