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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: stock · game · craft · plane · net · prune · patient · ground

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Flower arranging is a traditional ________________ in Japan.
  3. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  4. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  8. The ________________ market has crashed.
  9. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  10. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He spent years learning his ________________ as a carpenter.
  13. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  14. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  15. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  16. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  17. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  18. There's no middle ________________.
  19. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  20. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  21. Small ________________ should stay in the harbor during the storm.
  22. The ________________ took off on time.
  23. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  24. That was a fun ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. craft — a handicraft
  3. patient — a sick person
  4. ground — crushed
  5. prune — to trim
  6. game — wild animals
  7. ground — the earth
  8. stock — shares
  9. net — in sport
  10. game — a kind of play
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. craft — a skill
  13. patient — calm and waiting
  14. net — after costs
  15. net — for catching
  16. stock — a soup base
  17. stock — goods
  18. ground — a position
  19. patient — a sick person
  20. plane — in geometry
  21. craft — boats
  22. plane — an aircraft
  23. plane — a tool
  24. game — a match

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