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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 120 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: pitch · prune · chest · bore · rash · game · wake · field

  1. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  2. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  3. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  4. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  7. Don't do anything ________________.
  8. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  9. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  12. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  13. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  14. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  15. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  21. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. That was a fun ________________.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. game — wild animals
  2. wake — to stop sleeping
  3. pitch — a sales talk
  4. field — a subject
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chest — of your body
  7. rash — hasty
  8. pitch — completely
  9. bore — gave birth
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — a box
  12. bore — to tire
  13. field — for sport
  14. rash — a series
  15. game — a kind of play
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. prune — to trim
  18. field — farmland
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. pitch — a sports field
  21. wake — a trail
  22. bore — to drill
  23. game — a match
  24. wake — before a funeral

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