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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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468
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: hide · pitcher · wound · chest · prune · field · clip · mark

  1. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  5. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  12. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  13. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  14. He is an ace ________________.
  15. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  16. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  17. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  20. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  23. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  24. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. chest — of your body
  2. wound — an injury
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. clip — to cut
  5. mark — to pay attention
  6. prune — to trim
  7. mark — a grade
  8. clip — a video
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. prune — to trim
  11. hide — animal skin
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — in baseball
  15. field — a subject
  16. chest — of your body
  17. wound — past of 'wind'
  18. chest — a box
  19. mark — a trace
  20. clip — for paper
  21. field — for sport
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. wound — an injury
  24. field — farmland

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