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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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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 · cabinet · pitcher · wind · clip · last · ground · bat

  1. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  6. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  7. What do you think of the new ________________?
  8. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. False peace will not ________________.
  11. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  19. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  20. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. ground — crushed
  2. wind — moving air
  3. ground — the earth
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. pitcher — a jug
  6. wind — moving air
  7. cabinet — ministers
  8. cabinet — ministers
  9. bat — the animal
  10. last — to go on
  11. cabinet — a cupboard
  12. last — final
  13. clip — for paper
  14. prune — to trim
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bat — for baseball
  19. pitcher — a jug
  20. last — finally
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. clip — a video
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. clip — to cut

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