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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  3. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  4. Tiny blossoms have come out all over the river ________________.
  5. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Fill up this ________________ with water.
  8. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  9. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  10. The ________________ will go to the well once too often.
  11. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  12. I'm going to the ________________ to withdraw money.
  13. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  16. I seem to be developing a ________________.
  17. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  18. This ________________ always watches out for its own interests.
  19. He is an ace ________________.
  20. Don't do anything ________________.
  21. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  24. How do you ________________ your surname?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. race — humankind
  3. race — the arms race
  4. bank — of a river
  5. file — a line of people
  6. spell — magic
  7. pitcher — a jug
  8. prune — to trim
  9. file — a document
  10. pitcher — a jug
  11. file — a tool
  12. bank — for money
  13. race — a contest
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. prune — to trim
  16. rash — on the skin
  17. rash — a series
  18. bank — for money
  19. pitcher — in baseball
  20. rash — hasty
  21. degree — from a university
  22. degree — temperature
  23. spell — a short time
  24. spell — letters

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