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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: chest · track · staff · ground · straw · bulb · prune · mine

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I've got to change the light ________________.
  3. The light ________________ burned out.
  4. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  5. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  6. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  7. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  8. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. There's no middle ________________.
  11. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  17. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  20. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  21. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  22. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. bulb — for light
  3. bulb — for light
  4. staff — employees
  5. bulb — of a plant
  6. straw — a straw man
  7. chest — of your body
  8. mine — an explosive
  9. mine — for digging
  10. ground — a position
  11. ground — crushed
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. chest — of your body
  14. staff — employees
  15. track — a path
  16. staff — a stick
  17. straw — dry grass
  18. prune — to trim
  19. straw — to clutch at straws
  20. track — to keep track
  21. track — a song
  22. mine — belonging to me
  23. ground — the earth
  24. chest — a box

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