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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.

Words on the sheet
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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: coach · rush · prune · squash · land · file · hand · saw

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  5. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. He works in a ________________ mill.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  12. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  13. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  14. She's very handy with a ________________.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. Have you met the new head ________________?
  19. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. That must've been a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. rush — to hurry
  3. hand — help
  4. coach — a trainer
  5. land — a country
  6. squash — to crush
  7. prune — to trim
  8. saw — the tool
  9. land — to come down
  10. prune — to trim
  11. file — a line of people
  12. saw — past of 'see'
  13. squash — the vegetable
  14. saw — the tool
  15. rush — hurry
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. squash — the sport
  18. coach — a trainer
  19. coach — pulled by horses
  20. hand — in cards
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. file — a document
  23. file — a tool
  24. rush — a thrill

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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