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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  5. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  6. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  7. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  10. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  15. The polar ice ________________ is melting.
  16. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  17. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  18. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  19. David sat on the ________________.
  20. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  21. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  22. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  23. When are we going to ________________?
  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. prune — to trim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. degree — from a university
  4. object — to protest
  5. cap — a lid
  6. lash — a whip stroke
  7. land — ground
  8. prune — to trim
  9. object — a thing
  10. land — a country
  11. wind — moving air
  12. degree — temperature
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. lash — an eyelash
  15. cap — of ice
  16. object — an aim
  17. swing — in golf
  18. wind — moving air
  19. swing — to play on
  20. cap — a hat
  21. swing — music
  22. wind — to turn a key
  23. land — to come down
  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