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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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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: court · prune · kid · land · file · pound · present · bore

  1. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  2. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  7. The ball is in your ________________.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  10. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  11. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  12. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  13. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  14. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  15. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  19. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  20. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  21. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  22. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  23. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. land — ground
  2. present — a gift
  3. kid — child
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. pound — to hit hard
  7. court — for sport
  8. prune — to trim
  9. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  10. court — of a king
  11. pound — a weight
  12. file — a document
  13. bore — to drill
  14. pound — for dogs
  15. court — of law
  16. land — a country
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. present — there
  19. file — a line of people
  20. file — a tool
  21. present — the time now
  22. bore — to tire
  23. kid — to tease
  24. land — to come down

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