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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: pitch · chest · lie · prune · date · trunk · tear · degree

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  3. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Have you settled on a ________________?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  12. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  13. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  14. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  17. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  18. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  21. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  22. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  23. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. tear — to rip
  3. chest — of your body
  4. degree — temperature
  5. prune — to trim
  6. chest — of your body
  7. tear — from crying
  8. degree — an amount
  9. date — on the calendar
  10. degree — from a university
  11. lie — an untruth
  12. trunk — of a car
  13. pitch — a sports field
  14. lie — to recline
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. pitch — completely
  17. trunk — of a tree
  18. lie — an untruth
  19. tear — from crying
  20. chest — a box
  21. date — on the calendar
  22. trunk — of an elephant
  23. date — the fruit
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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