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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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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. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  2. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  5. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  9. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  10. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  13. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  17. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  18. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. band — a ring
  2. snap — to click
  3. prune — to trim
  4. bowl — to roll
  5. bowl — a football final
  6. prune — to trim
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. bat — the animal
  9. band — a rubber band
  10. bat — in an idiom
  11. degree — from a university
  12. band — a music group
  13. snap — to snap out of it
  14. degree — an amount
  15. degree — temperature
  16. snap — to speak sharply
  17. bat — for baseball
  18. bowl — a dish

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