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

  1. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. I'd give my right ________________ to be ambidextrous.
  3. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  4. My father caught me by the ________________.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  11. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. She sat on the ________________ of the sofa.
  16. He is an ace ________________.
  17. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  18. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. arm — part of the body
  3. file — a line of people
  4. arm — part of the body
  5. prune — to trim
  6. degree — temperature
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. prune — to trim
  10. drill — the tool
  11. drill — army training
  12. drill — a practice
  13. file — a tool
  14. degree — an amount
  15. arm — a part of something
  16. pitcher — in baseball
  17. file — a document
  18. pitcher — a jug

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