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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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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: straw · wave · mark · pit · bat · cold · prune · pitcher

  1. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  5. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  6. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  7. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  10. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  11. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  12. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  13. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. He is an ace ________________.
  16. Boris sat near the fire ________________.
  17. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  18. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  19. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  20. Jarno Trulli was disqualified for passing a red light at the ________________ exit.
  21. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  22. Have you ever swallowed an apricot ________________?
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mark — a grade
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. straw — to clutch at straws
  5. straw — a straw man
  6. mark — a trace
  7. mark — to pay attention
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. pitcher — a jug
  10. straw — dry grass
  11. cold — an illness
  12. wave — with your hand
  13. wave — a sudden rise
  14. prune — to trim
  15. pitcher — in baseball
  16. pit — a hole
  17. pitcher — a jug
  18. bat — the animal
  19. bat — for baseball
  20. pit — in a race
  21. cold — the Cold War
  22. pit — a fruit stone
  23. cold — not warm
  24. wave — of the sea

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