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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. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. The train was so full that I had to ________________ all the while.
  6. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  7. That was ________________ to happen.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  10. A smaller training pitch was installed beside the main ________________.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  13. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  16. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. I can't ________________ this cold.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — child
  2. cold — not warm
  3. prune — to trim
  4. prune — to trim
  5. stand — on your feet
  6. bound — tied together
  7. bound — certain
  8. perch — the fish
  9. kid — to tease
  10. stand — for spectators
  11. degree — an amount
  12. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  13. rest — what's left
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. cold — the Cold War
  16. rest — what's left
  17. degree — from a university
  18. rest — a break
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bound — obliged
  21. degree — temperature
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. stand — to bear

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