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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  3. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  4. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  5. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  6. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  7. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  8. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  9. False peace will not ________________.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  12. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  13. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. Champaud competed in the parallel bars, ________________, and pommel horse events.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. The ceiling is a plaster ________________ painted with stars.
  18. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  19. Lukas kept the diamonds in a locked ________________.
  20. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  21. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  22. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  23. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  24. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. march — the month
  3. degree — an amount
  4. stem — a stem cell
  5. last — finally
  6. chair — a leader
  7. chair — to sit on
  8. chair — a professorship
  9. last — to go on
  10. march — music
  11. march — the month
  12. chest — of your body
  13. chest — of your body
  14. prune — to trim
  15. vault — in gymnastics
  16. degree — from a university
  17. vault — an arched ceiling
  18. prune — the fruit
  19. vault — a safe
  20. stem — of a plant
  21. last — final
  22. chest — a box
  23. stem — to come from
  24. degree — temperature

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