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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.

Words on the sheet
468
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: coach · pitcher · clip · bowl · bat · prune · cold · patient

  1. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. The farmer was ________________ with the unruly horse.
  6. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  11. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  12. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. The nurse administered an injection to the ________________.
  15. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. The ________________ was transferred to the cardiology ward.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  20. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  21. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. He is an ace ________________.
  24. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?

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

Answer key

  1. coach — a trainer
  2. prune — to trim
  3. pitcher — a jug
  4. cold — an illness
  5. patient — calm and waiting
  6. bat — for baseball
  7. prune — to trim
  8. clip — for paper
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. clip — a video
  11. cold — the Cold War
  12. bat — the animal
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. patient — a sick person
  15. bowl — a football final
  16. cold — not warm
  17. patient — a sick person
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. clip — to cut
  20. bowl — to roll
  21. bowl — a dish
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. pitcher — in baseball
  24. coach — pulled by horses

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