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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. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  4. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  7. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  8. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  9. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  10. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  11. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  12. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  13. We're on a ________________ here.
  14. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  15. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  16. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  17. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  18. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  19. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  20. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  23. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  24. He was locked up in a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. board — a committee
  2. degree — an amount
  3. degree — from a university
  4. cell — a phone
  5. degree — temperature
  6. prune — to trim
  7. wound — past of 'wind'
  8. wound — an injury
  9. mine — belonging to me
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. mine — for digging
  12. perch — the fish
  13. roll — on a roll
  14. wound — an injury
  15. mine — an explosive
  16. roll — a list
  17. roll — a cake
  18. board — to get on
  19. board — a flat piece
  20. cell — in biology
  21. prune — to trim
  22. perch — for a bird
  23. prune — the fruit
  24. cell — in a prison

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