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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. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  6. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.
  9. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  10. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Manchester University ________________ is the university's academic publishing house.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  15. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  16. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  17. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  20. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  21. The function of the ________________ is to provide the common people with facts.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  24. Did you ________________ the button?

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

Answer key

  1. race — humankind
  2. degree — from a university
  3. root — of a plant
  4. degree — an amount
  5. last — final
  6. root — the cause
  7. last — to go on
  8. root — of a word
  9. ball — a round shape
  10. prune — to trim
  11. file — a document
  12. press — a publisher
  13. file — a line of people
  14. race — the arms race
  15. last — finally
  16. ball — a great time
  17. degree — temperature
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — the fruit
  20. race — a contest
  21. press — newspapers
  22. ball — a dance
  23. file — a tool
  24. press — to push

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