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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. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  3. The chairman did not ________________ out the possibility of a disagreement.
  4. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  5. Tom got himself in a ________________.
  6. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  7. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  8. It's one o'clock ________________.
  9. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  10. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  11. Will civil ________________ and democracy continue in Algeria?
  12. Would you like some apricot ________________?
  13. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  14. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  15. The bus was late because of the traffic ________________.
  16. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  17. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  18. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  19. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  20. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  21. Remember our ________________: no talking to strangers, no matter what.
  22. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  23. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  24. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. band — a music group
  3. rule — to rule out
  4. sharp — clever
  5. jam — a tight spot
  6. march — the month
  7. degree — temperature
  8. sharp — exactly
  9. prune — to trim
  10. march — music
  11. rule — government
  12. jam — to spread on bread
  13. row — to paddle
  14. prune — the fruit
  15. jam — in traffic
  16. row — a quarrel
  17. degree — from a university
  18. sharp — with an edge
  19. band — a ring
  20. band — a rubber band
  21. rule — a law
  22. march — the month
  23. degree — an amount
  24. row — a line

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