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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. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  4. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  5. The office ________________ worked quickly and efficiently to resolve the problem.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  9. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  13. It's hotel ________________. Please let me in.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  16. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  19. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  20. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  21. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  22. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  23. The old man leaned on his ________________.
  24. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.

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

Answer key

  1. clip — for paper
  2. prune — to trim
  3. lean — to bend
  4. squash — the vegetable
  5. staff — employees
  6. degree — an amount
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. lean — to rest against
  9. clip — a video
  10. degree — temperature
  11. wind — moving air
  12. degree — from a university
  13. staff — employees
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. squash — the sport
  16. wind — moving air
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. mine — for digging
  19. squash — to crush
  20. prune — to trim
  21. wind — to turn a key
  22. lean — thin
  23. staff — a stick
  24. clip — to cut

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