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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: current · pitcher · cold · drill · trunk · prune · land · bulb

  1. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  2. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  3. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  4. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  7. The light ________________ burned out.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. I've got to change the light ________________.
  12. The water is too ________________.
  13. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  14. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  15. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  16. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  17. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  20. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. When are we going to ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. pitcher — a jug
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. bulb — of a plant
  4. drill — a practice
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. current — electric
  7. bulb — for light
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. trunk — of a tree
  10. land — a country
  11. bulb — for light
  12. cold — not warm
  13. trunk — of a car
  14. trunk — of an elephant
  15. current — happening now
  16. land — ground
  17. drill — army training
  18. prune — to trim
  19. current — of water
  20. drill — the tool
  21. cold — an illness
  22. prune — to trim
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  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