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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 120 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: pitcher · pound · pit · capital · wind · clip · prune · spring

  1. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  2. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. Rodrigo's family went to the dog ________________ to adopt a dog.
  9. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  10. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  14. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  15. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  16. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  17. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  19. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  20. Jeff had to ________________ the pavement for three months before he found a job.
  21. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  22. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  23. A ________________ is equal to sixteen ounces.
  24. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — a video
  2. pit — a hole
  3. prune — to trim
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. capital — a city
  6. spring — of water
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. pound — for dogs
  9. spring — the season
  10. prune — the fruit
  11. prune — to trim
  12. capital — money
  13. pit — in a race
  14. wind — moving air
  15. clip — to cut
  16. pit — a fruit stone
  17. clip — for paper
  18. pitcher — a jug
  19. capital — a big letter
  20. pound — to hit hard
  21. spring — a coil
  22. wind — moving air
  23. pound — a weight
  24. wind — to turn a key

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