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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The water is too ________________.
  3. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  4. The tickets are free of ________________.
  5. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  6. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  17. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  18. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  19. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  20. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  21. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. cold — not warm
  3. fork — in a road
  4. charge — a price
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. club — for dancing
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. perch — the fish
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. degree — temperature
  11. fork — a garden tool
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cold — an illness
  14. prune — to trim
  15. degree — an amount
  16. charge — electricity
  17. fork — to eat with
  18. charge — in control
  19. row — a line
  20. perch — for a bird
  21. club — for golf
  22. row — to paddle
  23. club — a group
  24. prune — the fruit

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