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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  3. We need to ________________ with this problem right now.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  6. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  7. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  10. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  11. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  12. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  13. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  14. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  15. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  16. Because of the accident, he'll have a limp for the ________________ of his life.
  17. Don't make such a big ________________ out of small things.
  18. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. The ________________ of the members were all out of tune.
  21. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  22. Part of that ________________ required him to leave the singing group.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I would like to have a ________________ here.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. hand — help
  3. deal — to handle
  4. prune — to trim
  5. drill — the tool
  6. drill — army training
  7. wind — to turn a key
  8. degree — temperature
  9. degree — an amount
  10. wind — moving air
  11. prune — the fruit
  12. drill — a practice
  13. hand — in cards
  14. hand — part of the body
  15. row — a line
  16. rest — what's left
  17. deal — a big deal
  18. row — a quarrel
  19. row — to paddle
  20. rest — what's left
  21. wind — moving air
  22. deal — an agreement
  23. degree — from a university
  24. rest — a break

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