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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. She's very handy with a ________________.
  2. Did you ________________ the meat?
  3. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  4. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  5. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  6. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  7. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  8. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  9. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  10. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  11. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  12. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  13. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  14. He works in a ________________ mill.
  15. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  16. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  19. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  20. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  23. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  24. Spring is a pleasant ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. saw — the tool
  2. season — to add flavour
  3. wind — moving air
  4. file — a tool
  5. prune — the fruit
  6. degree — an amount
  7. bear — the animal
  8. bear — to put up with
  9. hide — animal skin
  10. degree — temperature
  11. hide — to keep secret
  12. hide — to keep secret
  13. file — a line of people
  14. saw — the tool
  15. degree — from a university
  16. wind — to turn a key
  17. prune — to trim
  18. saw — past of 'see'
  19. season — in sport
  20. file — a document
  21. prune — to trim
  22. bear — the animal
  23. wind — moving air
  24. season — of the year

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