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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 cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  3. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  6. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  7. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  10. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. What do you think of the new ________________?
  13. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  14. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  15. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. False peace will not ________________.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  20. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  21. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  24. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. last — finally
  3. deal — a big deal
  4. degree — temperature
  5. mine — for digging
  6. rule — to rule out
  7. cabinet — a cupboard
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. rule — government
  10. file — a line of people
  11. last — final
  12. cabinet — ministers
  13. file — a document
  14. file — a tool
  15. mine — belonging to me
  16. degree — from a university
  17. last — to go on
  18. prune — to trim
  19. mine — an explosive
  20. deal — to handle
  21. cabinet — ministers
  22. degree — an amount
  23. rule — a law
  24. deal — an agreement

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