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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: pit · file · bear · shower · prune · capital · pitcher · snap

  1. He is an ace ________________.
  2. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  7. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  8. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  9. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  14. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  15. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  16. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  17. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  21. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  24. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — in baseball
  2. snap — to speak sharply
  3. capital — a city
  4. file — a document
  5. file — a line of people
  6. pitcher — a jug
  7. bear — the animal
  8. shower — rain
  9. file — a tool
  10. prune — to trim
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. prune — to trim
  13. capital — a big letter
  14. pit — in a race
  15. pit — a hole
  16. bear — to put up with
  17. bear — the animal
  18. shower — to wash
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. snap — to snap out of it
  21. snap — to click
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. shower — a meteor shower
  24. capital — money

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