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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 116 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. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  2. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  9. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  10. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  11. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  12. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  13. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  14. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. What do you think of the new ________________?
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. How do you ________________ your surname?
  19. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  20. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  21. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. The water is too ________________.
  24. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.

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

Answer key

  1. tear — from crying
  2. mine — for digging
  3. prune — to trim
  4. degree — an amount
  5. degree — from a university
  6. spell — a short time
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. tear — from crying
  9. spell — magic
  10. tear — to rip
  11. mine — belonging to me
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cabinet — a cupboard
  14. scale — size or range
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. spell — letters
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. scale — in music
  21. cold — an illness
  22. degree — temperature
  23. cold — not warm
  24. scale — for weighing

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