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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: cold · hide · pitcher · press · vault · prune · net · kid

  1. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  4. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  5. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  6. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  9. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  10. He is an ace ________________.
  11. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  14. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  15. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. Did you ________________ the button?
  18. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  19. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  20. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  23. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  24. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. prune — to trim
  3. net — after costs
  4. hide — to keep secret
  5. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  6. kid — child
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. vault — an arched ceiling
  9. hide — to keep secret
  10. pitcher — in baseball
  11. net — for catching
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. hide — animal skin
  14. pitcher — a jug
  15. net — in sport
  16. cold — not warm
  17. press — to push
  18. press — a publisher
  19. press — newspapers
  20. prune — the fruit
  21. cold — an illness
  22. vault — a safe
  23. prune — to trim
  24. vault — in gymnastics

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