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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. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  2. I got a ________________ for parking in the wrong place.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  5. There's no middle ________________.
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I've got the luggage in my ________________.
  8. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  9. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. This shop sells ________________ wines and cheeses.
  12. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. I assure you, everything's ________________.
  15. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  16. The elephant has a huge ________________.
  17. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  18. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  19. The water is too ________________.
  20. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  21. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. The tree's ________________ was scarred by lightning strikes.
  24. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.

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

Answer key

  1. cold — the Cold War
  2. fine — a penalty
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. present — a gift
  5. ground — a position
  6. prune — to trim
  7. trunk — of a car
  8. root — of a plant
  9. root — of a word
  10. degree — from a university
  11. fine — high quality
  12. root — the cause
  13. degree — temperature
  14. fine — all right
  15. present — the time now
  16. trunk — of an elephant
  17. ground — crushed
  18. ground — the earth
  19. cold — not warm
  20. cold — an illness
  21. present — there
  22. degree — an amount
  23. trunk — of a tree
  24. prune — to trim

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