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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. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  2. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  3. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  4. It's one o'clock ________________.
  5. He's quite ________________, isn't he?
  6. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  7. The ________________ market has crashed.
  8. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  9. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  10. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  11. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  14. This knife is not ________________ enough.
  15. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  16. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  17. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  18. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  19. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  20. The supermarket has a large ________________ of merchandise.
  21. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  22. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  23. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  24. What's the difference between broth and ________________?

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

Answer key

  1. degree — an amount
  2. prune — the fruit
  3. prune — to trim
  4. sharp — exactly
  5. sharp — clever
  6. kid — to tease
  7. stock — shares
  8. perch — the fish
  9. bore — to tire
  10. perch — for a bird
  11. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. perch — for a bird
  14. sharp — with an edge
  15. bore — gave birth
  16. wound — an injury
  17. prune — to trim
  18. bore — to drill
  19. degree — from a university
  20. stock — goods
  21. wound — an injury
  22. degree — temperature
  23. kid — child
  24. stock — a soup base

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