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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 120 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. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  4. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.
  5. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  6. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  7. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  8. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  11. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  12. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  13. What do you think of the new ________________?
  14. He was locked up in a ________________.
  15. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  16. In all probability, the ________________ will fall.
  17. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  18. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  19. The light ________________ burned out.
  20. I've got to change the light ________________.
  21. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  22. She took a metal box from the top of the kitchen ________________.
  23. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  24. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. degree — from a university
  3. prune — to trim
  4. wake — before a funeral
  5. tear — from crying
  6. lie — an untruth
  7. cell — in biology
  8. bulb — of a plant
  9. tear — to rip
  10. prune — to trim
  11. cell — a phone
  12. wake — to stop sleeping
  13. cabinet — ministers
  14. cell — in a prison
  15. lie — an untruth
  16. cabinet — ministers
  17. wake — a trail
  18. degree — temperature
  19. bulb — for light
  20. bulb — for light
  21. prune — the fruit
  22. cabinet — a cupboard
  23. lie — to recline
  24. tear — from crying

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