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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: bat · bore · tube · pitch · date · field · prune · mine

  1. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  2. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  3. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  4. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  5. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  8. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  11. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.
  12. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  13. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  14. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  15. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  16. I'll be taking the ________________.
  17. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  18. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  19. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  20. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  21. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  22. Have you settled on a ________________?
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.

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

Answer key

  1. field — a subject
  2. bore — to tire
  3. bat — the animal
  4. prune — to trim
  5. field — farmland
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. bat — for baseball
  8. field — for sport
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. mine — an explosive
  11. pitch — a sales talk
  12. tube — in a tire
  13. prune — to trim
  14. date — the fruit
  15. tube — a container
  16. tube — the underground
  17. date — on the calendar
  18. pitch — completely
  19. pitch — a sports field
  20. bore — to drill
  21. bore — gave birth
  22. date — on the calendar
  23. mine — for digging
  24. bat — in an idiom

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