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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: bat · rush · pit · prune · cold · stem · rock · key

  1. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  2. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  3. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  4. That must've been a ________________.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  10. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  11. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  15. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  16. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  17. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. This piece is in a major ________________.
  20. The water is too ________________.
  21. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  24. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?

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

Answer key

  1. rush — to hurry
  2. rock — to move gently
  3. pit — a hole
  4. rush — a thrill
  5. cold — an illness
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. rock — a stone
  10. key — the most important part
  11. rush — hurry
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. pit — in a race
  14. stem — of a plant
  15. stem — to come from
  16. key — for a lock
  17. bat — the animal
  18. prune — to trim
  19. key — in music
  20. cold — not warm
  21. stem — a stem cell
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bat — for baseball
  24. rock — music

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