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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 · fan · hand · clip · field · wind · suit · pitcher

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. Positive actions can inspire others to follow ________________.
  4. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  8. When will it ________________ you to start?
  9. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. The cuffs of his ________________ jacket are badly frayed.
  20. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  21. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. suit — in cards
  4. clip — a video
  5. clip — for paper
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. fan — to cool the air
  8. suit — to fit
  9. clip — to cut
  10. prune — to trim
  11. wind — moving air
  12. hand — help
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. hand — in cards
  16. prune — to trim
  17. fan — a supporter
  18. field — a subject
  19. suit — clothes
  20. field — farmland
  21. field — for sport
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. wind — moving air
  24. wind — to turn a key

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