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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  5. Is the royal ________________ prepared for the journey?
  6. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  9. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  10. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  11. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  12. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Have you met the new head ________________?
  16. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  17. The ________________ told me I needed to practice harder.
  18. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  19. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  22. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  23. The King held a masked ________________.
  24. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. degree — from a university
  3. prune — to trim
  4. shower — to wash
  5. coach — pulled by horses
  6. fork — in a road
  7. swing — to play on
  8. swing — music
  9. shower — rain
  10. band — a rubber band
  11. band — a music group
  12. ball — a round shape
  13. degree — temperature
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. coach — a trainer
  16. band — a ring
  17. coach — a trainer
  18. shower — a meteor shower
  19. ball — a great time
  20. degree — an amount
  21. fork — a garden tool
  22. fork — to eat with
  23. ball — a dance
  24. swing — in golf

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