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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  4. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  5. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  6. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  7. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. I am seized by an uncontrollable ________________ of sadness.
  10. The players ran onto the football ________________.
  11. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  12. The room was ________________ black, so I couldn't see a thing.
  13. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  14. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  15. The water is too ________________.
  16. The surfers were looking for the perfect ________________.
  17. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  18. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  19. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  20. This piece is in a major ________________.
  21. The ball is in your ________________.
  22. A lot of friends came to ________________ goodbye to me.
  23. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  24. She's preparing to ________________ her idea to the investors.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — to trim
  3. kid — child
  4. cold — the Cold War
  5. cold — an illness
  6. key — the most important part
  7. degree — from a university
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. wave — a sudden rise
  10. pitch — a sports field
  11. court — of law
  12. pitch — completely
  13. key — for a lock
  14. degree — temperature
  15. cold — not warm
  16. wave — of the sea
  17. kid — to tease
  18. court — of a king
  19. degree — an amount
  20. key — in music
  21. court — for sport
  22. wave — with your hand
  23. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  24. pitch — a sales talk

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