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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: chair · saw · pitcher · row · last · race · prune · mate

  1. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  2. She's very handy with a ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  10. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  11. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  12. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  13. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  14. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. Have you found your soul ________________?
  23. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  24. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.

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

Answer key

  1. last — finally
  2. saw — the tool
  3. chair — a leader
  4. prune — to trim
  5. chair — to sit on
  6. saw — the tool
  7. race — a contest
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. row — a quarrel
  11. pitcher — a jug
  12. mate — to breed
  13. race — the arms race
  14. chair — a professorship
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. last — final
  17. last — to go on
  18. row — to paddle
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. race — humankind
  21. row — a line
  22. mate — a partner
  23. mate — a friend
  24. prune — to trim

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