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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 · mate · bat · wound · foot · snap · march · drill

  1. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Heather can grow to a ________________ or so tall.
  4. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  5. I have a corn on my right ________________.
  6. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  10. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  11. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  12. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  13. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  14. Have you found your soul ________________?
  15. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  16. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  17. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. The newcomer sat down at the ________________ of the table.
  20. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  21. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  22. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  23. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  24. We had a fire ________________ at school today.

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

Answer key

  1. mate — to breed
  2. prune — to trim
  3. foot — a measure
  4. snap — to snap out of it
  5. foot — part of the body
  6. snap — to speak sharply
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. bat — the animal
  10. march — the month
  11. march — music
  12. wound — an injury
  13. wound — past of 'wind'
  14. mate — a partner
  15. drill — army training
  16. snap — to click
  17. drill — the tool
  18. prune — to trim
  19. foot — the bottom
  20. mate — a friend
  21. wound — an injury
  22. bat — for baseball
  23. march — the month
  24. drill — a practice

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