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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 120 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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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 · file · rest · hand · last · face · saw · pitcher

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  5. He is an ace ________________.
  6. She's very handy with a ________________.
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  9. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. False peace will not ________________.
  12. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  13. He works in a ________________ mill.
  14. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  15. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  18. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  19. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. face — to confront
  3. prune — to trim
  4. file — a line of people
  5. pitcher — in baseball
  6. saw — the tool
  7. file — a tool
  8. saw — past of 'see'
  9. last — finally
  10. hand — in cards
  11. last — to go on
  12. pitcher — a jug
  13. saw — the tool
  14. face — part of the head
  15. rest — a break
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. face — to point toward
  18. hand — part of the body
  19. rest — what's left
  20. rest — what's left
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. file — a document
  23. hand — help
  24. prune — to trim

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