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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. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. He is an ace ________________.
  5. The light ________________ burned out.
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  10. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  11. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  12. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  13. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  20. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  21. I've got to change the light ________________.
  22. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.

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

Answer key

  1. wound — an injury
  2. prune — to trim
  3. degree — an amount
  4. pitcher — in baseball
  5. bulb — for light
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. bulb — of a plant
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. prune — to trim
  10. bark — a dog's sound
  11. degree — from a university
  12. cold — the Cold War
  13. prune — the fruit
  14. wound — an injury
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. degree — temperature
  17. lash — an eyelash
  18. cold — not warm
  19. cold — an illness
  20. bark — of a tree
  21. bulb — for light
  22. pitcher — a jug
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. bark — to shout

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