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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. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  2. Are you a huge ________________ of trains?
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  7. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  8. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  9. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  12. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  13. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  14. I am not a ________________ of shrimp.
  15. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.
  16. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  17. Can you turn the ________________ on?
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  20. That was a fun ________________.
  21. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  24. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.

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

Answer key

  1. squash — the vegetable
  2. fan — a supporter
  3. degree — an amount
  4. prune — the fruit
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. squash — to crush
  7. tear — from crying
  8. degree — temperature
  9. game — a kind of play
  10. tear — from crying
  11. row — to paddle
  12. row — a line
  13. prune — to trim
  14. fan — a supporter
  15. game — wild animals
  16. board — a flat piece
  17. fan — to cool the air
  18. degree — from a university
  19. squash — the sport
  20. game — a match
  21. prune — to trim
  22. tear — to rip
  23. board — a committee
  24. board — to get on

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