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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. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  2. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  5. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. The ________________ found him guilty of stealing money.
  8. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  9. No doubt you will be able to ________________ the examination.
  10. You can't go backstage without a ________________.
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. The ball is in your ________________.
  13. When a clown is made king, the ________________ becomes a circus.
  14. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  15. We wanted to take a walk to ________________ the time.
  16. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  17. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  18. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  19. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  20. Have you found your soul ________________?
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. row — a quarrel
  2. row — a line
  3. prune — to trim
  4. degree — from a university
  5. mate — a friend
  6. race — a contest
  7. court — of law
  8. mate — to breed
  9. pass — to succeed
  10. pass — a permit
  11. degree — temperature
  12. court — for sport
  13. court — of a king
  14. wound — past of 'wind'
  15. pass — to spend time
  16. race — humankind
  17. race — the arms race
  18. wound — an injury
  19. wound — an injury
  20. mate — a partner
  21. degree — an amount
  22. prune — to trim
  23. row — to paddle
  24. prune — the fruit

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