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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 116 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: land · file · pitch · prune · bark · cell · mouse · cold

  1. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  2. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  3. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Should I buy a wireless ________________?
  6. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  7. "I don't like games like this," squeaked the ________________.
  8. I thought I heard a ________________ in the kitchen.
  9. When are we going to ________________?
  10. The water is too ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  13. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  14. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  15. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  16. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  22. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  23. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. file — a tool
  2. bark — to shout
  3. cold — an illness
  4. prune — to trim
  5. mouse — for a computer
  6. file — a document
  7. mouse — the animal
  8. mouse — the animal
  9. land — to come down
  10. cold — not warm
  11. prune — to trim
  12. cell — a phone
  13. land — ground
  14. land — a country
  15. pitch — a sales talk
  16. bark — of a tree
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. cell — in biology
  21. pitch — completely
  22. file — a line of people
  23. cold — the Cold War
  24. cell — in a prison

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