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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 116 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: pitch · drill · prune · squash · mine · present · bat · mate

  1. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  2. Have you found your soul ________________?
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  8. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  12. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  13. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  14. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  15. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  16. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  17. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  20. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  21. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  22. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  23. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  24. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.

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

Answer key

  1. mine — belonging to me
  2. mate — a partner
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. mate — to breed
  5. prune — to trim
  6. drill — army training
  7. present — a gift
  8. squash — the sport
  9. prune — to trim
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. squash — to crush
  12. pitch — a sales talk
  13. bat — the animal
  14. bat — for baseball
  15. squash — the vegetable
  16. bat — in an idiom
  17. pitch — a sports field
  18. mine — for digging
  19. present — there
  20. pitch — completely
  21. drill — a practice
  22. mate — a friend
  23. present — the time now
  24. drill — the tool

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