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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: net · kid · jam · stock · field · swing · pitcher · prune

  1. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  2. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  3. What's the difference between broth and ________________?
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  8. David sat on the ________________.
  9. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  13. The ________________ market has crashed.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  17. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  18. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  19. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  20. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  21. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. jam — to spread on bread
  2. net — after costs
  3. stock — a soup base
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. field — for sport
  6. prune — to trim
  7. net — for catching
  8. swing — to play on
  9. stock — goods
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. swing — in golf
  12. field — farmland
  13. stock — shares
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. net — in sport
  16. pitcher — a jug
  17. jam — a tight spot
  18. field — a subject
  19. prune — to trim
  20. swing — music
  21. jam — in traffic
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. kid — to tease
  24. kid — child

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