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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. I haven't touched a tennis ________________ in years.
  2. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  5. Our cat is sitting in the apple tree, and the birds are making a ________________.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. It's one o'clock ________________.
  8. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  11. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  15. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  16. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  17. He was locked up in a ________________.
  18. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  21. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  22. The King held a masked ________________.
  23. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  24. He hit the ball with his ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. racket — for tennis
  2. hand — part of the body
  3. prune — to trim
  4. hand — in cards
  5. racket — a loud noise
  6. degree — from a university
  7. sharp — exactly
  8. degree — an amount
  9. hand — help
  10. ball — a round shape
  11. prune — to trim
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. degree — temperature
  14. branch — of a bank
  15. sharp — clever
  16. cell — a phone
  17. cell — in a prison
  18. branch — a division
  19. ball — a great time
  20. branch — of a tree
  21. sharp — with an edge
  22. ball — a dance
  23. cell — in biology
  24. racket — for tennis

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