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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  3. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. The ________________ took off on time.
  7. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  8. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  9. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  10. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  11. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  12. When are we going to ________________?
  13. He was locked up in a ________________.
  14. How do you ________________ your surname?
  15. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  20. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  21. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  22. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. plane — in geometry
  3. land — a country
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. plane — an aircraft
  7. prune — to trim
  8. land — ground
  9. cell — in biology
  10. race — humankind
  11. field — a subject
  12. land — to come down
  13. cell — in a prison
  14. spell — letters
  15. race — a contest
  16. degree — from a university
  17. cell — a phone
  18. degree — temperature
  19. field — farmland
  20. plane — a tool
  21. spell — magic
  22. field — for sport
  23. spell — a short time
  24. race — the arms race

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