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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: fall · cold · pitch · stock · date · pound · prune · land

  1. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  5. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  6. The water is too ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  9. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  10. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  13. When are we going to ________________?
  14. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  15. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. The ________________ market has crashed.
  18. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  21. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. fall — to drop
  2. prune — to trim
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. stock — goods
  5. fall — the season
  6. cold — not warm
  7. land — ground
  8. pitch — a sports field
  9. pitch — a sales talk
  10. pound — a weight
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. fall — to drop
  13. land — to come down
  14. pitch — completely
  15. pound — for dogs
  16. cold — an illness
  17. stock — shares
  18. date — on the calendar
  19. prune — to trim
  20. date — the fruit
  21. pound — to hit hard
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. land — a country
  24. stock — a soup base

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