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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. He refilled his coffee ________________.
  3. Use a garden ________________ to turn the soil.
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  8. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  9. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  10. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  11. Is that Pat Hanrahan's ________________ looking hungry and willing.
  12. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  13. That must've been a ________________.
  14. A drowning man will clutch at a ________________.
  15. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  16. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  17. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  18. We usually eat with a knife, ________________ and spoon.
  19. The goat rested comfortably on a soft bed of ________________.
  20. Where did you ________________ them?
  21. It always has to be a ________________ man with them.
  22. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  23. We came to a ________________ in the road and had no idea which direction to go.
  24. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. mug — a cup
  3. fork — a garden tool
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. prune — to trim
  6. rush — hurry
  7. mine — an explosive
  8. mine — belonging to me
  9. hand — help
  10. mine — for digging
  11. mug — a face
  12. rush — to hurry
  13. rush — a thrill
  14. straw — to clutch at straws
  15. degree — temperature
  16. hand — part of the body
  17. hand — in cards
  18. fork — to eat with
  19. straw — dry grass
  20. mug — to rob
  21. straw — a straw man
  22. degree — an amount
  23. fork — in a road
  24. degree — from a university

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