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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: drill · prune · pitcher · leaves · court · spring · fall · race

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  3. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  4. The ball is in your ________________.
  5. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  6. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  16. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  19. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  20. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  21. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. spring — a coil
  3. court — of law
  4. court — for sport
  5. drill — a practice
  6. race — humankind
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. race — a contest
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. spring — of water
  12. prune — to trim
  13. leaves — of a tree
  14. spring — the season
  15. fall — to drop
  16. court — of a king
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. leaves — to go away
  19. drill — the tool
  20. race — the arms race
  21. leaves — lets stay
  22. fall — the season
  23. drill — army training
  24. fall — to drop

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