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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  3. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  4. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  5. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  6. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  9. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  10. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  11. When are we going to ________________?
  12. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  15. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  16. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  17. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  18. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  21. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  24. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. wind — moving air
  3. prune — the fruit
  4. content — videos and posts
  5. kid — to tease
  6. degree — from a university
  7. prune — to trim
  8. content — the amount
  9. kid — child
  10. capital — a big letter
  11. land — to come down
  12. capital — a city
  13. capital — money
  14. pass — to spend time
  15. land — ground
  16. pass — a permit
  17. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  18. pass — to succeed
  19. degree — temperature
  20. degree — an amount
  21. wind — moving air
  22. land — a country
  23. wind — to turn a key
  24. content — happy

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