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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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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 · prune · track · jam · row · game · last · pop

  1. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  2. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  3. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  4. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  7. He is an ace ________________.
  8. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  9. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  10. We're almost out of ________________.
  11. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  12. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  15. That was a fun ________________.
  16. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  17. You don't need to ________________ round.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  20. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  21. False peace will not ________________.
  22. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a line
  2. jam — a tight spot
  3. game — a kind of play
  4. track — a song
  5. prune — to trim
  6. track — a path
  7. pitcher — in baseball
  8. track — to keep track
  9. row — a quarrel
  10. pop — soda
  11. prune — to trim
  12. last — final
  13. last — finally
  14. pop — music
  15. game — a match
  16. jam — to spread on bread
  17. pop — to visit
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. game — wild animals
  20. pitcher — a jug
  21. last — to go on
  22. jam — in traffic
  23. row — to paddle
  24. pitcher — a jug

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

Make a worksheet (0 words)

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