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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. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  3. False peace will not ________________.
  4. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  5. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  6. He works in a ________________ mill.
  7. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  8. When I ________________ my fingers, you'll wake up.
  9. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  10. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. ________________ out of it! You haven't done a thing all week.
  13. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  14. The information is stored in a ________________ on my computer.
  15. You don't have to ________________ at me like that.
  16. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  17. He rubbed the rust off with a ________________.
  18. We walked down the narrow path in single ________________.
  19. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  20. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  21. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  22. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  23. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  24. She's very handy with a ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. last — final
  3. last — to go on
  4. wound — an injury
  5. wound — past of 'wind'
  6. saw — the tool
  7. prune — the fruit
  8. snap — to click
  9. bound — obliged
  10. saw — past of 'see'
  11. bound — certain
  12. snap — to snap out of it
  13. last — finally
  14. file — a document
  15. snap — to speak sharply
  16. degree — from a university
  17. file — a tool
  18. file — a line of people
  19. degree — temperature
  20. wound — an injury
  21. degree — an amount
  22. prune — to trim
  23. bound — tied together
  24. saw — the tool

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