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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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  2. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  5. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  6. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  7. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  8. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  9. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  10. Algeria has become a bargaining ________________ in a global game of poker.
  11. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  12. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  13. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  14. There's a computer ________________ on the table.
  15. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  16. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  17. That must've been a ________________.
  18. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  19. What do you think of the new ________________?
  20. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. The potato ________________ was salty and crunchy.
  23. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. bat — for baseball
  3. prune — to trim
  4. rush — to hurry
  5. bat — the animal
  6. rush — hurry
  7. prune — to trim
  8. wake — to stop sleeping
  9. mine — an explosive
  10. chip — for betting
  11. cabinet — ministers
  12. bat — in an idiom
  13. degree — temperature
  14. chip — in a computer
  15. wake — before a funeral
  16. degree — an amount
  17. rush — a thrill
  18. cabinet — a cupboard
  19. cabinet — ministers
  20. mine — for digging
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. chip — to eat
  23. wake — a trail
  24. mine — belonging to me

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