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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 116 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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  3. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. Have you met the new head ________________?
  10. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  11. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  12. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  13. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  21. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  22. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  23. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. rock — music
  3. hand — help
  4. rash — hasty
  5. clip — for paper
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. rock — a stone
  8. prune — to trim
  9. coach — a trainer
  10. squash — the vegetable
  11. coach — a trainer
  12. clip — to cut
  13. degree — an amount
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. clip — a video
  16. degree — temperature
  17. squash — the sport
  18. prune — to trim
  19. squash — to crush
  20. hand — in cards
  21. rash — a series
  22. coach — pulled by horses
  23. rock — to move gently
  24. degree — from a university

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