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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. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  2. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  3. This is my favorite ________________ on the album.
  4. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  5. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  6. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  7. He keeps ________________ of his days.
  8. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  9. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  10. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  11. Every pianist practices the C major ________________.
  12. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  13. Did you ________________ the meat?
  14. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  15. The muddy ________________ descends to a valley.
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  19. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  20. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.
  21. Nobody expected a disaster on this ________________.
  22. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  23. The kitchen ________________ is next to the microwave.
  24. He was blown up by a land ________________.

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

Answer key

  1. prune — the fruit
  2. degree — from a university
  3. track — a song
  4. prune — to trim
  5. prune — to trim
  6. degree — temperature
  7. track — to keep track
  8. season — of the year
  9. mine — for digging
  10. bat — for baseball
  11. scale — in music
  12. mine — belonging to me
  13. season — to add flavour
  14. degree — an amount
  15. track — a path
  16. bat — the animal
  17. spring — the season
  18. bat — in an idiom
  19. spring — a coil
  20. season — in sport
  21. scale — size or range
  22. spring — of water
  23. scale — for weighing
  24. mine — an explosive

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