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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. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  6. Why would I ________________ to a disabled ramp?
  7. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  8. A valuable ________________ decreases in value if it is damaged.
  9. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  10. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  11. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  12. Can you put the ________________ back on the pen?
  13. It's best to wear a ________________ on your head during the cold Moscow winters.
  14. Thanks to his efforts, he attained his ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  18. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  19. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  20. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  21. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  22. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  23. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  24. The polar ice ________________ is melting.

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

Answer key

  1. perch — for a bird
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. degree — an amount
  4. stem — to come from
  5. row — a quarrel
  6. object — to protest
  7. file — a tool
  8. object — a thing
  9. file — a line of people
  10. degree — from a university
  11. file — a document
  12. cap — a lid
  13. cap — a hat
  14. object — an aim
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. prune — to trim
  17. perch — the fish
  18. perch — for a bird
  19. row — to paddle
  20. prune — to trim
  21. degree — temperature
  22. stem — of a plant
  23. row — a line
  24. cap — of ice

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