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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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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: cold · pitch · pound · root · content · prune · field · mouse

  1. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  12. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  13. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  14. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  15. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  16. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  17. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  20. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  21. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  22. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  23. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  24. Should I buy a wireless ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. field — farmland
  2. prune — to trim
  3. pitch — a sports field
  4. field — a subject
  5. cold — an illness
  6. root — the cause
  7. content — the amount
  8. root — of a plant
  9. pound — a weight
  10. cold — not warm
  11. mouse — the animal
  12. root — of a word
  13. pitch — completely
  14. pitch — a sales talk
  15. field — for sport
  16. prune — to trim
  17. pound — for dogs
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mouse — the animal
  20. content — happy
  21. content — videos and posts
  22. prune — the fruit
  23. pound — to hit hard
  24. mouse — for a computer

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