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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: land · fan · pitcher · ground · file · prune · fall · staff

  1. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  2. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  3. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  4. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  14. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  15. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  16. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  17. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  18. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  19. When are we going to ________________?
  20. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  21. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. pitcher — a jug
  3. land — ground
  4. fan — to cool the air
  5. ground — a position
  6. land — a country
  7. prune — to trim
  8. fall — to drop
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. file — a line of people
  11. file — a tool
  12. prune — to trim
  13. pitcher — a jug
  14. ground — crushed
  15. ground — the earth
  16. fan — a supporter
  17. fall — to drop
  18. staff — a stick
  19. land — to come down
  20. staff — employees
  21. file — a document
  22. fall — the season
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. fan — a supporter

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