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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  3. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  4. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  5. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  6. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.
  7. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  8. She's an expert in the ________________ of medicine.
  9. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  10. Vegetables are growing on this ________________.
  11. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  12. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  13. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  16. The stadium has a track around the football ________________.
  17. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. branch — of a tree
  3. wind — moving air
  4. stem — to come from
  5. scale — in music
  6. current — happening now
  7. branch — of a bank
  8. field — a subject
  9. wind — to turn a key
  10. field — farmland
  11. wind — moving air
  12. current — of water
  13. branch — a division
  14. degree — an amount
  15. prune — the fruit
  16. field — for sport
  17. scale — size or range
  18. degree — temperature
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. current — electric
  21. degree — from a university
  22. prune — to trim
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. stem — of a plant

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