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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 124 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. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  4. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  5. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  6. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  7. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. Where did you ________________ them?
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  12. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  13. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  14. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  15. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  18. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  19. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  24. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.

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

Answer key

  1. kid — to tease
  2. prune — to trim
  3. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  4. squash — to crush
  5. squash — the vegetable
  6. wound — an injury
  7. degree — an amount
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. mug — to rob
  10. degree — from a university
  11. tear — to rip
  12. mug — a cup
  13. wake — before a funeral
  14. wake — a trail
  15. mug — a face
  16. degree — temperature
  17. squash — the sport
  18. kid — child
  19. tear — from crying
  20. wound — an injury
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. prune — to trim
  23. wound — past of 'wind'
  24. tear — from crying

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