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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 116 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 seem to be developing a ________________.
  2. How do you ________________ your surname?
  3. The party suffered for the ________________ of party-switching.
  4. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  5. Don't do anything ________________.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. I had a ________________ with my boss today.
  8. We're almost out of ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  11. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  12. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  15. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  16. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  17. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  18. You don't need to ________________ round.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  21. The girl drawing a picture in the first ________________ is my niece.
  22. We had to ________________ the boat across the lake.
  23. False peace will not ________________.
  24. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.

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

Answer key

  1. rash — on the skin
  2. spell — letters
  3. rash — a series
  4. spell — magic
  5. rash — hasty
  6. degree — temperature
  7. row — a quarrel
  8. pop — soda
  9. wound — an injury
  10. wound — past of 'wind'
  11. last — final
  12. prune — the fruit
  13. last — finally
  14. prune — to trim
  15. spell — a short time
  16. prune — to trim
  17. degree — an amount
  18. pop — to visit
  19. degree — from a university
  20. wound — an injury
  21. row — a line
  22. row — to paddle
  23. last — to go on
  24. pop — music

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