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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: hand · fall · club · bore · race · pitcher · mate · prune

  1. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  4. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  5. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Have you found your soul ________________?
  10. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  11. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  12. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  13. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  14. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  17. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  22. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.

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

Answer key

  1. hand — help
  2. bore — to tire
  3. mate — a friend
  4. pitcher — a jug
  5. fall — to drop
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — to trim
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. mate — a partner
  10. bore — gave birth
  11. race — the arms race
  12. fall — to drop
  13. club — a group
  14. club — for dancing
  15. hand — in cards
  16. fall — the season
  17. race — humankind
  18. club — for golf
  19. mate — to breed
  20. bore — to drill
  21. pitcher — a jug
  22. hand — part of the body
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. race — a contest

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