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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. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. The ________________ took off on time.
  4. Don't do anything ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  7. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  8. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  9. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. You don't need to ________________ round.
  14. We're almost out of ________________.
  15. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  16. The water is too ________________.
  17. He is an ace ________________.
  18. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  21. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  22. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  23. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  24. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?

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

Answer key

  1. plane — in geometry
  2. degree — from a university
  3. plane — an aircraft
  4. rash — hasty
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. rash — a series
  7. cold — an illness
  8. wake — before a funeral
  9. pop — music
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. wake — to stop sleeping
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. pop — to visit
  14. pop — soda
  15. pitcher — a jug
  16. cold — not warm
  17. pitcher — in baseball
  18. prune — to trim
  19. prune — to trim
  20. degree — temperature
  21. plane — a tool
  22. wake — a trail
  23. rash — on the skin
  24. degree — an amount

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