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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. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  2. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  3. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  4. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  7. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  8. I would like to have a ________________ here.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  14. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  15. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  16. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  17. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  18. That must've been a ________________.
  19. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. The water is too ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. staff — employees
  2. tear — from crying
  3. rush — to hurry
  4. wake — a trail
  5. prune — to trim
  6. cold — the Cold War
  7. tear — to rip
  8. rest — a break
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. degree — temperature
  11. staff — employees
  12. degree — an amount
  13. wake — to stop sleeping
  14. wake — before a funeral
  15. rush — hurry
  16. cold — an illness
  17. rest — what's left
  18. rush — a thrill
  19. tear — from crying
  20. rest — what's left
  21. prune — to trim
  22. degree — from a university
  23. staff — a stick
  24. cold — not warm

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