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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. Plant the tulip ________________ before the first frost.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  4. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  8. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  9. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  10. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  11. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  12. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  13. The water is too ________________.
  14. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  15. I've got to change the light ________________.
  16. The light ________________ burned out.
  17. I didn't ________________ up well this morning.
  18. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  19. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  20. The speedboat left a long ________________ behind it.
  21. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  22. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  23. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  24. Friends gathered at the ________________ to remember him.

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

Answer key

  1. bulb — of a plant
  2. degree — from a university
  3. wound — an injury
  4. cold — an illness
  5. prune — to trim
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. wound — an injury
  8. branch — a division
  9. wound — past of 'wind'
  10. branch — of a tree
  11. degree — an amount
  12. prune — to trim
  13. cold — not warm
  14. face — to confront
  15. bulb — for light
  16. bulb — for light
  17. wake — to stop sleeping
  18. face — to point toward
  19. cold — the Cold War
  20. wake — a trail
  21. branch — of a bank
  22. face — part of the head
  23. degree — temperature
  24. wake — before a funeral

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