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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  3. ________________ games are popular in Germany.
  4. I get a ________________ out of her cheerful personality.
  5. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  6. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  7. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  8. The water is too ________________.
  9. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  10. They were given a penalty ________________ just minutes from the end.
  11. I'm currently on the ________________ of directors.
  12. He works in a ________________ mill.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. One ________________ from a giraffe's hind leg is enough to kill a lion.
  15. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  16. Later, his shop becomes a ________________ with young dancers.
  17. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  18. My rich neighbors belong to a private golf ________________.
  19. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  20. I belonged to the harmonica ________________ in my high school days.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. The captain is giving the order to ________________ the ship.
  23. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  24. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. degree — an amount
  3. board — a flat piece
  4. kick — a thrill
  5. perch — for a bird
  6. prune — the fruit
  7. perch — the fish
  8. cold — not warm
  9. degree — temperature
  10. kick — in football
  11. board — a committee
  12. saw — the tool
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. kick — with a leg
  15. prune — to trim
  16. club — for dancing
  17. cold — the Cold War
  18. club — for golf
  19. saw — past of 'see'
  20. club — a group
  21. saw — the tool
  22. board — to get on
  23. degree — from a university
  24. cold — an illness

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