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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: chest · clip · lean · pit · ground · pitcher · bat · prune

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  5. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  12. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  15. There's no middle ________________.
  16. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  19. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  20. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  21. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  22. He is an ace ________________.
  23. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  24. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pit — a hole
  3. bat — the animal
  4. chest — of your body
  5. clip — to cut
  6. prune — to trim
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. chest — of your body
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. ground — the earth
  12. clip — for paper
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. lean — to bend
  15. ground — a position
  16. bat — for baseball
  17. prune — to trim
  18. chest — a box
  19. pit — a fruit stone
  20. bat — in an idiom
  21. ground — crushed
  22. pitcher — in baseball
  23. lean — thin
  24. pit — in a race

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