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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. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  2. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  3. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  4. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  5. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  6. Winning one ________________ isn't the same as dominating a sport.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  9. Atomic bombs are a danger to the human ________________.
  10. Biology is a ________________ of science.
  11. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  12. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  13. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  14. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  15. Only by prohibiting all nuclear weapons, we can together stop the arms ________________.
  16. He chopped down the ________________ with an ax.
  17. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  18. Our bank has a ________________ near the station.
  19. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  20. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  23. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  24. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. degree — temperature
  3. mine — for digging
  4. dip — to dunk
  5. degree — from a university
  6. race — a contest
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. perch — for a bird
  9. race — humankind
  10. branch — a division
  11. mine — an explosive
  12. spring — a coil
  13. dip — to sink
  14. spring — the season
  15. race — the arms race
  16. branch — of a tree
  17. perch — for a bird
  18. branch — of a bank
  19. spring — of water
  20. dip — a sauce
  21. degree — an amount
  22. prune — to trim
  23. perch — the fish
  24. mine — belonging to me

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