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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. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  5. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  6. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. He was locked up in a ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  15. We're on a ________________ here.
  16. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  17. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  18. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  24. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — to rip
  2. degree — from a university
  3. last — to go on
  4. chair — a leader
  5. roll — a cake
  6. squash — the vegetable
  7. cell — in biology
  8. cell — in a prison
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. roll — a list
  11. tear — from crying
  12. prune — to trim
  13. tear — from crying
  14. last — finally
  15. roll — on a roll
  16. degree — temperature
  17. chair — to sit on
  18. cell — a phone
  19. prune — to trim
  20. squash — the sport
  21. last — final
  22. degree — an amount
  23. chair — a professorship
  24. squash — to crush

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