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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 · straw · bark · rest · root · capital · pitch · scale

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  5. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  6. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  7. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  8. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  9. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  10. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  11. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  12. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  13. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  14. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  15. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  16. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  19. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  22. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  23. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  24. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.

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. pitch — a sales talk
  4. rest — what's left
  5. pitch — completely
  6. straw — to clutch at straws
  7. scale — in music
  8. bark — a dog's sound
  9. root — of a plant
  10. rest — what's left
  11. root — of a word
  12. scale — size or range
  13. straw — dry grass
  14. scale — for weighing
  15. bark — to shout
  16. pitch — a sports field
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. capital — a big letter
  19. rest — a break
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. capital — money
  22. root — the cause
  23. capital — a city
  24. straw — a straw man

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