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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 116 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 in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  2. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  3. Did you ________________ the meat?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. False peace will not ________________.
  9. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  10. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  11. The ball is in your ________________.
  12. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  13. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — temperature
  2. prune — to trim
  3. season — to add flavour
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. season — of the year
  6. race — a contest
  7. court — of law
  8. last — to go on
  9. court — of a king
  10. season — in sport
  11. court — for sport
  12. race — the arms race
  13. last — final
  14. prune — to trim
  15. degree — from a university
  16. degree — an amount
  17. last — finally
  18. race — humankind

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