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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: pit · kid · track · tear · patient · last · bass · prune

  1. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  2. I play ________________ in a jazz band.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  7. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  8. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  11. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  14. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  17. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  18. Turn up the ________________ so we can feel the beat.
  19. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  20. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  21. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  22. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  23. The fisherman caught a huge ________________.
  24. False peace will not ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. pit — a hole
  2. bass — the instrument
  3. track — a song
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. patient — calm and waiting
  7. tear — from crying
  8. last — finally
  9. kid — to tease
  10. tear — from crying
  11. pit — a fruit stone
  12. kid — child
  13. patient — a sick person
  14. track — to keep track
  15. prune — to trim
  16. track — a path
  17. last — final
  18. bass — low music
  19. tear — to rip
  20. patient — a sick person
  21. pit — in a race
  22. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  23. bass — the fish
  24. last — to go on

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