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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. ________________ you help me carry this box?
  2. David sat on the ________________.
  3. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  4. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  5. In my city, the temperature is one ________________ above zero.
  6. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  7. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  8. Recycle the empty soda ________________.
  9. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  10. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. The ________________ of a dandelion is edible, too.
  13. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  14. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  15. To what ________________ are you interested in baseball?
  16. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  17. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  18. A university ________________ is the ticket to a successful career.
  19. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  20. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  21. We need to address the ________________ of the problem.
  22. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  23. Tom opened a ________________ of soup.
  24. The ________________ of 'teacher' is 'teach'.

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

Answer key

  1. can — to be able to
  2. swing — to play on
  3. swing — music
  4. kid — to tease
  5. degree — temperature
  6. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  7. bat — in an idiom
  8. can — a tin
  9. prune — the fruit
  10. tear — from crying
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. root — of a plant
  13. tear — from crying
  14. swing — in golf
  15. degree — an amount
  16. bat — the animal
  17. prune — to trim
  18. degree — from a university
  19. prune — to trim
  20. kid — child
  21. root — the cause
  22. tear — to rip
  23. can — a tin
  24. root — of a word

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