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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: mine · pitcher · stand · branch · prune · game · roll · cold

  1. The water is too ________________.
  2. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  3. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  4. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  7. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  8. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  9. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  10. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. That was a fun ________________.
  14. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  17. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. I can't ________________ this cold.
  20. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  21. He is an ace ________________.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Fill up this ________________ with water.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — not warm
  2. stand — for spectators
  3. branch — of a bank
  4. mine — an explosive
  5. mine — for digging
  6. game — wild animals
  7. mine — belonging to me
  8. roll — a list
  9. cold — an illness
  10. roll — a cake
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. game — a match
  14. branch — of a tree
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. branch — a division
  17. stand — on your feet
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. stand — to bear
  20. game — a kind of play
  21. pitcher — in baseball
  22. prune — to trim
  23. prune — to trim
  24. pitcher — a jug

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