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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 120 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  5. Hard work is the ________________ to success.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. David sat on the ________________.
  8. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  11. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  12. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  13. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. This piece is in a major ________________.
  16. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  17. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  18. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. Are you the only one who has a ________________ to this door?
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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. degree — from a university
  4. spell — a short time
  5. key — the most important part
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. swing — to play on
  8. fork — to eat with
  9. bore — to tire
  10. degree — an amount
  11. swing — in golf
  12. kid — child
  13. fork — a garden tool
  14. spell — magic
  15. key — in music
  16. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  17. bore — gave birth
  18. prune — to trim
  19. degree — temperature
  20. key — for a lock
  21. swing — music
  22. bore — to drill
  23. fork — in a road
  24. spell — letters

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