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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: prune · sharp · net · patient · deal · band · ground · mine

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  12. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  13. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  14. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  15. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  16. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  19. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  20. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  23. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. net — for catching
  3. prune — to trim
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. ground — a position
  6. deal — a big deal
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. sharp — with an edge
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. mine — for digging
  11. deal — to handle
  12. patient — calm and waiting
  13. band — a ring
  14. sharp — clever
  15. patient — a sick person
  16. deal — an agreement
  17. ground — crushed
  18. band — a music group
  19. mine — belonging to me
  20. net — in sport
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. patient — a sick person
  23. ground — the earth
  24. net — after costs

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