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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: branch · pitch · prune · sharp · plane · spring · ball · tear

  1. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  2. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  5. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  12. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. The ________________ took off on time.
  17. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  18. It's one o'clock ________________.
  19. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. The King held a masked ________________.
  22. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  23. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. sharp — clever
  2. spring — the season
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. branch — of a bank
  5. ball — a great time
  6. prune — to trim
  7. spring — a coil
  8. tear — from crying
  9. branch — a division
  10. prune — to trim
  11. sharp — with an edge
  12. tear — from crying
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. spring — of water
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. plane — an aircraft
  17. tear — to rip
  18. sharp — exactly
  19. ball — a round shape
  20. pitch — completely
  21. ball — a dance
  22. plane — a tool
  23. branch — of a tree
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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