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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  4. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  5. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  6. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  7. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  8. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  9. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  10. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  11. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  12. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  13. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  14. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  15. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  19. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  20. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  21. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  22. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  23. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  24. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. degree — temperature
  4. bat — in an idiom
  5. kid — child
  6. fall — to drop
  7. lash — a whip stroke
  8. lash — to lash out
  9. fall — to drop
  10. lash — an eyelash
  11. bat — the animal
  12. kid — to tease
  13. march — the month
  14. prune — to trim
  15. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  16. degree — from a university
  17. degree — an amount
  18. race — humankind
  19. march — music
  20. bat — for baseball
  21. race — a contest
  22. fall — the season
  23. race — the arms race
  24. march — the month

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