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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 · field · content · land · kid · rule · key · pitch

  1. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  2. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  3. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  4. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  5. When are we going to ________________?
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  10. This piece is in a major ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  18. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  19. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  20. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  21. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  22. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  23. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  24. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.

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

Answer key

  1. key — for a lock
  2. kid — to tease
  3. field — farmland
  4. rule — government
  5. land — to come down
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. content — happy
  8. content — the amount
  9. land — ground
  10. key — in music
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. land — a country
  15. pitch — completely
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. field — for sport
  18. rule — to rule out
  19. rule — a law
  20. pitch — a sales talk
  21. kid — child
  22. key — the most important part
  23. content — videos and posts
  24. field — a subject

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