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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. Why do cosmetics have an expiration ________________?
  3. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  4. You can't play pool without a ________________ stick.
  5. Which do you like better, ________________ music or classical music?
  6. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  7. I'll take my ________________ from you.
  8. I don't want to ________________ the boat.
  9. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  10. Have you settled on a ________________?
  11. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  12. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  13. We were using a ________________ as a seat.
  14. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  15. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  16. A ________________ is a sweet brown fruit from a palm tree.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  19. When I cough twice, that's your ________________ to come into the room.
  20. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  21. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  24. A ________________ is just a dried plum.

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

Answer key

  1. degree — from a university
  2. date — on the calendar
  3. capital — a city
  4. cue — for pool
  5. rock — music
  6. prune — to trim
  7. cue — a hint
  8. rock — to move gently
  9. tear — from crying
  10. date — on the calendar
  11. degree — temperature
  12. capital — money
  13. rock — a stone
  14. mine — belonging to me
  15. tear — from crying
  16. date — the fruit
  17. degree — an amount
  18. mine — an explosive
  19. cue — a signal
  20. capital — a big letter
  21. tear — to rip
  22. prune — to trim
  23. mine — for digging
  24. prune — the fruit

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