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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  12. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  18. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. chest — a box
  3. degree — an amount
  4. chest — of your body
  5. wind — moving air
  6. degree — from a university
  7. chip — in a computer
  8. wind — moving air
  9. chip — for betting
  10. degree — temperature
  11. chip — to eat
  12. hand — help
  13. prune — to trim
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. hand — in cards
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. prune — the fruit
  18. chest — of your body

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