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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 124 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. I was having a ________________ recording these guys.
  2. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. The kitten curled into a ________________.
  7. He is as ________________ as a wolf.
  8. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  9. The ________________ took off on time.
  10. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  11. The King held a masked ________________.
  12. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  13. Don't ________________ against the wall. It's just been painted.
  14. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  15. In geometry, a flat surface is called a ________________.
  16. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. The carpenter used a ________________ to smooth the door.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. Vegetables slowly ________________ towards the light.
  23. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  24. That was ________________ to happen.

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

Answer key

  1. ball — a great time
  2. prune — to trim
  3. bound — obliged
  4. degree — temperature
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ball — a round shape
  7. lean — thin
  8. prune — to trim
  9. plane — an aircraft
  10. bound — tied together
  11. ball — a dance
  12. degree — an amount
  13. lean — to rest against
  14. cold — an illness
  15. plane — in geometry
  16. prune — the fruit
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. plane — a tool
  19. spring — of water
  20. spring — the season
  21. degree — from a university
  22. lean — to bend
  23. spring — a coil
  24. bound — certain

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