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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: branch · patient · bat · spring · band · chest · pit · prune

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  8. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  12. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  13. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  14. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  15. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  18. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  19. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  20. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  21. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  22. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  23. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  24. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. pit — in a race
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. prune — to trim
  5. chest — of your body
  6. spring — of water
  7. branch — a division
  8. pit — a fruit stone
  9. spring — the season
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. patient — a sick person
  12. bat — for baseball
  13. spring — a coil
  14. chest — of your body
  15. branch — of a bank
  16. band — a ring
  17. band — a rubber band
  18. patient — a sick person
  19. patient — calm and waiting
  20. band — a music group
  21. chest — a box
  22. bat — the animal
  23. pit — a hole
  24. branch — of a tree

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